Manchester's £12.6m MEAD programme aims to build quantum tech one atom at a time

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The University of Manchester has published more detail on its £12.6 million Materials Engineering for Advanced Devices programme, known as MEAD. Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, it aims to engineer materials with atomic precision for quantum computing, secure communications and sensing. Professor Richard Curry leads it, with partners at Imperial College London and the University of Leeds. We covered the 20 nanometre atom placement result the other day, but the university's own page shows how much wider the programme is

There are three main strands. The first is building the basic components for quantum devices, including sensors, single photon sources and arrays for quantum computing. The second is creating tools to understand materials at the atomic scale. The third, which I had not seen mentioned before, is developing maser technology for troposcatter communications with Imperial and Leeds

The team is quite large, with Dr Jayadev Vijayan on quantum sensors, Dr Huanqing Ye on single photon sources, Professor Sarah Haigh on imaging, Dr Jessica Boland on optical characterisation and Dr Katie Moore on nanoSIMS verification. The new funding builds on more than £150 million of existing infrastructure at Manchester. That includes the P-NAME platform, which places single atoms with 20 nanometre precision, plus a dilution refrigerator facility and specialist imaging kit

Isotopic engineering is one of the more interesting techniques mentioned. By choosing specific isotopes of an element, researchers can fine tune quantum properties and reduce noise. Combined with precise placement, that gives them a lot of control over how a device behaves

Curry says MEAD will deliver technologies that matter for national security, sensing and the future of quantum computing. The national security mention and the troposcatter work suggest defence interest is part of this. Does anyone know much about masers? I had to look up what troposcatter communication even was

Building quantum technologies one atom at a timewww.manchester.ac.uk

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A dedicated nanoSIMS verification role shows how seriously they take checking results. Measuring is half the battle at this scale