The first winners of two new awards in quantum technologies for early-career researchers have been announced by IOP Publishing. Feihu Xu from the University of Science and Technology China (USTC) has won the International Quantum Technology Early Career Scientist Award, while Annabelle Bohrdt from the University of Regensburg in Germany has won the International Quantum Technology Emerging Researcher Award.
Xu, who works on quantum communication and quantum-enhanced imaging, won the early-career scientist award for his “seminal contributions to quantum communication and quantum networks, including the security of practical quantum cryptography, large-scale quantum networks and high-speed quantum communication”.
This award is given to scientists who have completed their PhD no more than eight years ago. “I am extremely honoured to be recognized by the IOP and the award committee,” Xu told Physics World. “The recognition of this award is encouraging for my future career to bring quantum information science to general applications, and to explore great physical science.”
Bohrdt, who works on the physics of quantum many-body systems, was given the emerging researcher award for her work “developing novel approaches to analyse strongly correlated quantum matter using snapshots of quantum state”.
This prize is awarded to scientists who completed their PhD no more than three years ago. “It’s a great honour for me to receive this award in recognition of my work,” says Bohrdt.
Future plans
Both Xu and Bohrdt are excited about the future of quantum science and technology. “Quantum science enables a number of new technologies that can outperform current technology such as in quantum communication, quantum computing and quantum metrology,” says Xu. “I believe quantum technologies will play an important role in life in the near future.”
Bohrdt echoes those sentiments. “Quantum systems never cease to amaze with the unexpected features they can exhibit,” she adds. “The technological advances on the hardware side, such as in quantum simulation, quantum computation or quantum sensing, have been impressive to watch, and I expect even more advances in the coming years.”
Are you an early-career quantum scientist? Here’s your chance of recognition
The IOP awards, which have been announced on World Quantum Day, are designed to recognize scientific excellence and to help support the development of scientists at the start of their careers. The winners will give an award lecture on 25 May and be invited to submit a perspective related to their work to the IOP Publishing journal Quantum Science and Technology.
Applications were reviewed by an eight-strong committee chaired by Chaoyang Lu, a quantum physicist at the USTC, who sits on the board of Quantum Science and Technology.