University of Glasgow researchers are teaming up with their Canadian counterparts for a quantum technology research project supported by new funding.

The venture, called Coherent Optimisation and Magnon Manipulation for Information Transfer, or COMMIT, is one of ten initiatives sharing in £6.5m of funding from the UK-Canada Quantum for Science Research Collaboration which aims to foster quantum’s unique properties to drive international innovation and scientific progress.

The study will see Dr. Rair Macêdo from Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering teaming up with Professor Robert Stamps of the University of Manitoba to advance hybrid magnetic quantum devices for applications in secure communications, precision sensing, and advanced computing.

COMMIT aims to explore what is sometimes called ‘quantum weirdness’ in certain types of magnetic materials, with the team seeking to take excitations that can be produced by magnetic materials through interactions with light and develop ways they can be deployed into quantum technologies.

The project will test theoretical ideas, and could lead to breakthroughs in technology that might transform communication and computing in the future, which Glasgow University claimed will help support the national quantum strategies of both the UK and Canada.

“2025 is the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, so I’m delighted to be teaming with colleagues at the University of Manitoba on this project,” said Dr. Macêdo.

“Together, we will develop foundational knowledge to advance efficient, hybrid magnetic-based quantum devices that have the potential to be employed across several branches of quantum technologies from secure communications to precision sensing and advanced computing.”

The grant funding is to be run jointly by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the International Science Partnerships Fund, alongside the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), as part of the UKRI-NSERC Collaborative Agreement.

The allocation of £4 million from the United Kingdom and $4.2 million from Canada (totalling £6.5 million), will support innovative and collaborative research projects between university researchers in both countries to advance research in quantum communications and quantum sensing and detection. 

Another of the projects awarded funded comes from Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University and Canada’s INRS, where a team will work on developing ultra-nonlinear low-index materials to enhance quantum systems’ efficiency and scalability, aiming to advance quantum communication, computing, and sensing.

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Meanwhile, teams from various universities across the UK and Canada will begin projects from researching quantum networks to link quantum computers – the first steps to a potential quantum internet – to building quantum communication security solutions, and even new quantum sensors for assessing brain disorders.  

“This partnership is exemplary of the ways in which UK-Canada collaboration continues to support pioneering research and innovation,” said Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, chief executive of UKRI.

“By combining and sharing our resources and expertise, this funding will enable researchers to use quantum technology to develop innovative solutions that have huge potential across societies and economies globally.”