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EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE
Delaware State University: Pioneering Research in Quantum Sensing
Delaware State University (DSU) researchers are embarking on a major research project in the groundbreaking field of quantum sensing. Once complete, DSU’s work could help keep soldiers safe
in the battlefield, while supporting the development of a highly specialized workforce that will be in great demand over the coming decades.
of navigating without the use of GPS. “When you use GPS, you actually have the GPS talk to the atomic clocks that are on the satellite, and that’s how the GPS determines exactly where you are,” Pati says. “But if you improve the precision of these atomic clocks to a very large degree, you can navigate just by using the clock itself. You don’t have to rely on GPS.”
Quantum sensing involves the use of quantum principles
to improve the sensitivity and precision of sensors. As such, it provides a new avenue for measuring things like time, rotation, acceleration or electromagnetic forces.
According to GOUR S. PATI, a Physics and Engineering professor at DSU, quantum sensing “is a very new and promising research field” with real-world benefits that could range from a better understanding of the human brain to numerous defense applications.
Those defense applications are what the DSU researchers will be focused on. Last fall, the university won a five-year, $7.5 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The grant is being used to establish a DoD Center
of Excellence in Advanced Quantum Sensing at DSU. Pati will be the center’s co-director, along with fellow DSU professor Renu Tripathi. Three other DSU professors will be working at the center, along with about 40 undergraduate students,
20 graduate students and two to three post-doctoral researchers over the five-year life of the grant.
The researchers’ goal is to develop ultra-precise quantum sensors that can be useful for inertial navigation, which is a way
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is nearing readiness but it’s not fully ready yet, so there’s a shortage of qualified workers” in a field that is about to see major growth.
“The quantum job pool is very deep, and this [technology]
is going to have widespread applications in biology, business, banking and material science,” Pati says. “Industries will probably look for quantum experts who can do system design and programming and other types of work. For us, it’s exciting because we get a chance to train some of our students to be part of this future workforce.”
The grant’s significance for DSU as an institution is also tremendous, according to DSU President Tony Allen. “The goal is to build the university’s capacity from what is now a $27 million research portfolio to $35 million,” he said in a press release announcing the DoD grant. “It will continue to put us in the upper echelons of HBCUs providing substantive scholarships and research in this area and other areas. It will also continue us on the road to becoming an R1 research university, which would make us the first HBCU to have
GOUR S. PATI
In defense, this is important because soldiers “may not have access to GPS, but they still want to be safe and determine their position,” he says. “The soldier, in their military backpack, would have a portable atomic clock with very high precision, so that even in a GPS-denied environment, they can still find out where they are and whether it’s safe.”
Due to the pandemic, Pati and his colleagues have experienced some delays in getting the highly specialized equipment they need for their research. “In the meantime, we are doing virtual meetings and conducting some theoretical studies,” he says.
By the summer, Pati expects to bring some students into the lab for experiments. “We are hoping to enable our students to pursue degrees in quantum science,” Pati says. “For our students, it’s going to be an exciting time because quantum technology
that honor.”
—Tina Irgang Leaderman