QuantIC (UK Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Enhanced Imaging)

QuantIC, the UK Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Enhanced Imaging, led from the University of Glasgow, building new kinds of cameras and sensors.

About QuantIC (UK Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Enhanced Imaging)

QuantIC is the UK's national hub for quantum imaging, based at the University of Glasgow. Imaging means making pictures with light and other waves, and quantum imaging uses the odd behaviour of single particles of light, called photons, to see things ordinary cameras cannot. The hub says it is developing quantum-enhanced imaging systems that make the invisible visible. Its work includes QuantiCAM, a camera that captures photons much faster than conventional cameras, cameras that can see around corners and through smoke, and a portable gravity imager that measures the small rise and fall of the Earth caused by tides.

The hub's own aim, set out when it was launched, is the commercialisation of cameras built with innovative quantum technology. It lists possible uses such as imaging inside the human body, seeing through fog and smoke, finer microscopy, radar that is hard to jam, and cameras for space, civil engineering and environmental monitoring. QuantIC was one of four quantum hubs set up in 2014 and was renewed for a second five-year phase in 2019. Its research leaders include Professor Miles Padgett as principal investigator, and Professor Steve Beaumont has been director.

Glasgow is the home, but the hub is a partnership. The partner universities named in 2019 were Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Heriot-Watt, Imperial College, Strathclyde and Southampton as well as Glasgow, and an earlier launch article listed Oxford too. The hub opened an innovation space in Glasgow in 2016 to help companies test quantum cameras, and its prototypes have been made with the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre at the university. A Glasgow article said it worked with more than 70 companies by 2019, up from 30 at the start, with 39 project partnerships.

People and ideas have spun out of the hub. The 2019 article names QLM, which uses drones to detect methane leaks with quantum sensors, Raycal, a quantum technology consultancy, and Sequestim, which makes terahertz imaging for security screening. It also reported twelve studentships led by industry, which shows the hub mixes academic physics with business problems. The pages we read do not set out a culture statement, so what we can say comes from its projects and partnerships: it is a team-based, practical research community.

A hub like this employs physicists and electronics, optics and software engineers who build and test cameras, data specialists who handle image data, project and partnership managers who work with companies, and communications staff. Students who enjoy physics, maths, engineering or computing could follow its links to the University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy and to the partner universities. Check the hub's and the university's websites for current openings.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Cameras that count single photons very quickly, including QuantiCAM.', 'title': 'Quantum cameras'}
• {'desc': 'Systems that can see around corners and through smoke.', 'title': 'Imaging through obstacles'}
• {'desc': 'Projects and studentships with over 70 companies (2019).', 'title': 'Industry partnerships'}

Key facts

• One of four UK quantum hubs set up in 2014, led by the University of Glasgow
• Partner universities in 2019: Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Heriot-Watt, Imperial, Strathclyde and Southampton
• Spinouts named in 2019: QLM, Raycal and Sequestim
• Principal investigator Professor Miles Padgett; director Professor Steve Beaumont (2019)

Website: www.quantic.ac.uk