Quantum at 100: Honoring achievement, envisioning tomorrow

The revolutionary foundations of quantum mechanics were published in 1925 following a scientific scramble to explain baffling experimental results that started to emerge at the turn of the 19^th century. To commemorate that transformative scientific achievement, the United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. The Kavli Foundation likewise salutes quantum mechanics as a triumph of the basic science enterprise - an enterprise that continues today through the Foundation’s support of research in nanoscience.

“Many of the projects we fund in nanoscience explore fundamental scientific questions in quantum mechanics,” says Dr. Jeff Miller, program officer at The Kavli Foundation. “We hope to further build upon the transformative impact of quantum mechanics on knowledge, technology, and the world economy by seeding cutting-edge research in quantum materials.”

A quintessential example of a device that depends on quantum principles to operate is the transistor, a fundamental building block of electronics, and one of the greatest fruits of the past century’s quantum advances.

Yet as far as quantum mechanics has already taken humanity, there remain major opportunities for the field to expand. Groundbreaking quantum principles in the discoveries of tomorrow will unlock more new advances. To this end, The Kavli Foundation is supporting exploration of 3D quantum materials, through a collaborative project led by Dr. Päivi Törmä, professor of physics at Aalto University in Finland. Similarly, the promise of quantum transduction is brought closer to reality through a collaborative project led by Dr. Mazhar Ali, co-director of the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Both projects could set the stage for enormous progress in the decades to come. Törmä’s project seeks to wield quantum techniques to discover new superconducting materials that could transform electrical devices and energy distribution, while Ali’s project could open the door to allowing quantum devices, such as state-of-the-art quantum computers and sensors, to effectively share quantum information.

“We’re seeking to expand the frontiers of knowledge by supporting basic, fundamental science,” says Dr. Cynthia Friend, President of The Kavli Foundation. “We can find historical antecedent in how quantum mechanics grew from an initially curiosity-driven scientific quest without immediate applications into an overwhelming contributor to modern-day gross domestic product worldwide.”

Making quantum history
The first significant steps on the quantum path were taken in the early 1900s, when baffling experimental results began to hint that classical physics might not be sufficient to explain the world as it actually exists. Atomic spectra; the amount of energy needed to heat hydrogen gas; the interaction of some solids with light; these are just a few examples where gaps in classical understanding were evident. A key idea from this early time, put forth by Albert Einstein and based on work by Max Planck, was that light manifests as individual particles, or “quanta,” with discrete values.

Scientists and engineers have learned to harness many aspects of quantum features to deliver innovations that have become indispensable to modern life - such as lasers, LED lighting, the aforementioned transistors, plus many others - all built on fundamental science. “Some of the projects we support have the dual benefit of pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge, while also offering insights that could be applied to future technology development,” says Miller.

The beauty of quantum geometry
In this vein, the nanoscience research pursued by Törmä and colleagues builds on her pioneering work in developing quantum geometry, which describes the properties of the wavefunction originally fleshed out by Schrödinger. A wavefunction describes uncertainty related to a quantum system, illustrated by how a quantum particle can be in several positions in space simultaneously.

Historically, much of materials science has emphasized the energy values of quantum systems, instead of their wavefunctions. Törmä’s group is now bringing wavefunctions to the fore in studying 3D material systems where individual electrons do not move. In these systems, the wavefunctions of electrons can weave together and create a state of superconductivity - a macroscopic quantum phenomenon where electric current flows without any resistance. The temperatures where this quantum geometry-achieved superconductivity are expected to occur should be much higher than today’s superconducting materials, which must be inconveniently and expensively kept at extremely low temperatures.

“There is a lot of conceptual beauty in how quantum geometry determines material properties,” says Törmä. “I am excited about this topic because it is both intellectually intriguing and has potential for a great positive impact to the world.”

That impact would be evinced as tremendous energy savings in computing, electricity transfer, and medical imaging, including smaller and more affordable MRI devices. “New superconductors that work at higher temperatures than present could lead to a technological revolution,” says Törmä.

Transformative outcomes from basic science
Support from The Kavli Foundation and other philanthropies is enabling Törmä and colleagues to conduct critical basic science. With funding that embraces risk of pursuing the unknown, researchers can extend and refine their theories of quantum geometry, experimenting with 2D materials such as graphene, and conceiving of novel 3D materials where wavefunctions can be exploited.

“Quantum mechanics has already given us, among other things, the internet, computers, and smartphones. However, this is only the beginning, because only the simplest properties of quantum systems, namely their energies, are essential in those technologies,” says Törmä. “Now we may be at the beginning of the second quantum revolution, where more exotic properties of quantum systems, such as entanglement and quantum geometry, will be harnessed. Humankind faces a lot of challenges currently, such as the climate change, and science and tech, including quantum science, are desperately needed.”

For these reasons, The Kavli Foundation continues to promote fundamental scientific inquiry that - if past is prologue in quantum technology and science - points ahead to transformative outcomes. In the words of Fred Kavli, founder of The Kavli Foundation, “The future will be more spectacular than any of us can imagine.”

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