From optical sensors to cold atom systems, quantum physicist Dr Alex Jantzen has steered his academic research towards a pioneering spinout that is on the brink of revolutionising our future.
TAKING A QUANTUM LEAP Alex and the small team at Aquark Technologies are onto something impressive. They are developing a miniaturised cold atom system – no bigger than a matchbox – vastly reducing the size of a core component of quantum technology. It is Alex and Aquark co-founder Dr Andrei Draomir’s vision for the systems to be in everyday devices everywhere. Alex explained: “Our long-term goal is to mass fabricate cold atom traps. One day, these quantum sensors will be in devices everywhere, and we want devices to be ‘Aquark Augmented’.” The systems could be used for detecting gravity, monitoring carbon storage, looking for underground resources, and operating timing clocks and GPS systems.
Practical use could be in timing financial transactions, timings for transport systems, telecommunications, oil and gas, and semiconductors. The possibilities are endless.
An assessment by London Economics in 2017 estimated the economic impact to the UK of a five-day disruption to GPS to be £5.2 billion, as it would disrupt ports, emergency services, supermarkets, construction, the financial sector, and the military, amongst many other day-to-day services. Alex said: “Our mobile phones and navigation systems all rely on GPS. Through Aquark, we are enabling a more resilient infrastructure. The technology can be used in so many different ways and absolutely all of us will benefit from what it’s able to do.”
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