Why in news
The Customs Department’s decision on who can and cannot import diamonds is taking some of the lustre off the National Quantum Mission (NQM), which may help India take the lead in the emerging field of quantum technologies.
National Quantum Mission (NQM)
It’ll be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) under the Ministry of Science & Technology.
The mission planned for 2023-2031 aims to seed, nurture, and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and create a vibrant & innovative ecosystem in Quantum Technology (QT).
With the launch of this mission, India will be the seventh country to have a dedicated quantum mission after the US, Austria, Finland, France, Canada and China.
Features of NQM:
It will target developing intermediate scale quantum computers with 50-100 physical qubits in 5 years and 50-1000 physical qubits in 8 years.
Just like bits (1 and 0) are the basic units by which computers process information, ‘qubits’ or ‘quantum bits’ are the units of process by quantum computers.
The mission will help develop magnetometers with high sensitivity for precision timing (atomic clocks), communications, and navigation.
It will also support design and synthesis of quantum materials such as superconductors, novel semiconductor structures and topological materials for fabrication of quantum devices.
The mission will also help developing:
Satellite based secure quantum communications between ground stations over a range of 2000 km within India.
Long distance secure quantum communications with other countries
Inter-city quantum key distribution over 2000 km
Inter-city quantum key distribution over 2000 km
Multi-node Quantum network with quantum memories
Four Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) would be set up in top academic and National R&D institutes on the domains of Quantum Technology:
Quantum computation
Quantum communication
Quantum Sensing & Metrology
Quantum Materials & Devices
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