IIT Madras vies for setting up Quantum Communication hub in Chennai

C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI:
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has submitted the proposal for setting up a themeatic Quantum Communication Hub in Chennai and it is likely a decision would be taken up by the Department of Science and Technology by the end of this month, according to Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Professor Dr Anil Prabhakar.

Prof Prabhakar of Department of Electrical Energy accompanied by Deepa Nagraj, Global Head of Sparkle Innovation Ecosystem at Mphasis, said that the country is setting up four thematic hubs in the domains of Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum Sensing Metrology, and Quantum Material Devices.

"We are aspiring to be Quantum Communications hub. The proposals are being evaluated," said the professor while providing a tour of the Rs 21 crore quantum lab funded by Mphasis at the campus on Wednesday. The lab was launched by Mphasis to “accelerate fundamental and applied research” in quantum computing.

The professor said that DST will also be announcing the technical groups for the hubs. "A Quantum hub consists of four or five technical groups, which form the governing board of the hub. Then the hub will also call for proposals and create what is called the spoke institutions where smaller amounts of research gets done. The way the model has been set up, you have a consortium of five institutions and four or five technical groups formed for a hub," said the professor.

The hub is required to build a quantum computing. The near time benefit to use is what is available. Quantum communication we are building and we can aspire to do that, said Prof Prabhakar.

Quantum Communication taking advantage of the laws of quantum physics protects data. These laws allow particles—typically photons of light for transmitting data along optical cables—to take on a state of superposition, which means they can represent multiple combinations of 1 and 0 simultaneously. The particles are known as quantum bits, or qubits.

Through Quantum Communication networks could be created for transmitting highly sensitive data through quantum key distribution, which involves sending encrypted data as classical bits over networks, while the keys to decrypt the information are encoded and transmitted in a quantum state using qubits.  The National Quantum Mission got approval from the Union Cabinet on April 19, 2023 with an outlay of Rs 6003.65 crore. It seeks to harness the immense potential of quantum science and technology to drive economic growth, scientific exploration, and technological breakthrough.