The approved projects support the work of the researchers in Martino Poggio’s team. Here, Floris Braakman and Katharina Kress work on a cryostat. Further Testing quantum hardware be a user-friendly, simpli昀椀ed and improved information A Propelling Grant from the University of means of producing single photons, which Basel went to the physicists Professor Rich- will then pave the way for industrial applica- University of Basel ard Warburton and Dr. Andreas Kuhlmann as tions. https://www.pupella.org/post/ well as the head of the mechanics workshop, winners-from-the-propelling- grant-2023-announced-cryo- Sascha Martin. The three researchers from New measurement method probe the Department of Physics at the University for microwave signals Research group of Basel are working on founding the start-up Since June 2024, the group of Professor Richard Warburton Cryoprobe. Philipp Treutlein (Department of Physics) https://nano-photonics.unibas. Their aim is to develop a special cryo- has been involved in the OnMicro project of ch genic testing station that will allow rapid and the European Association of National Metrol- Publication precise testing of solid-state quantum hard- ogy Institutes (EURAMET) with the objective https://www.nature.com/arti- ware — in particular, semiconductor-based of developing new on-wafer measurement cles/s41565-020-00831-x qubits. The testing station will operate at very techniques for the characterization of mi- low temperatures and is to be tailored to the crowave signals on semiconductor chips. IDQuantique: special requirements of quantum hardware. The characterization of such chips — which https://www.idquantique.com are used in emerging technologies such as 6G telecommunication, autonomous vehi- Source of single photons cles and wearable electronics — requires Research group Professor Richard Warburton’s group also more-advanced microwave measurement Philipp Treutlein recently launched the Innosuisse project capabilities. https://atom.physik.unibas. SparQ. In this three-year project in collabo- The Treutlein team will now employ ch/en/ ration with the Swiss company IDQuantique, a novel approach utilizing Rydberg atoms as the researchers aim to develop a user-friend- quantum sensors for microwaves in order ly source of single photons. to achieve enhanced accuracy beyond that Single photons have strong quantum which was previously attainable. The Basel properties and are suitable for various applica- researchers are working closely with the tions in quantum technology — for example, Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (ME- in order to develop secure communication TAS), to which the new technology will be channels (quantum cryptography). Existing transferred after testing. single photon sources are based on elaborate, complicated laboratory experiments. With the Innosuisse project, the researchers now want to ensure that, in the future, there will SNI INSight June 2024 21