Background of the Center's Establishment

In Japan, based on the "Quantum Technology Innovation Strategy" (January 2020), "Quantum Future Society Vision" (April 2022), and "Quantum Future Industry Creation Strategy" (April 2023) formulated by the government, 11 Quantum Technology Innovation Hubs (QIH) have been established nationwide to accelerate research and development in quantum technology.

Meanwhile, the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University was selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Q-LEAP (Quantum Leap Flagship Program)" as a large-scale basic foundation research project in 2018. Since then, it has significantly advanced research on photonic quantum sensing. In recent years, it established the "Photonic Quantum Sensing Social Implementation Consortium" in 2023 and is increasingly focusing on activities geared towards social implementation. In 2019, the "Photonic Quantum Sensing Research Hub Unit" was established within the Center for Interdisciplinary Education and Research Promotion and has been active in collaboration with the Graduate School of Science and the Graduate School of Medicine, centered on the Graduate School of Engineering.

Under these circumstances, to further accelerate education and research in the field of photonic quantum sensing, centered on the Graduate School of Engineering, and to contribute both within and outside the university, the Photonic Quantum Sensing Research Hub Unit will be developmentally dissolved, and the Photonic Quantum Sensing Science and Engineering Center will be established as an affiliate of the Graduate School of Engineering.

Philosophy of the Center

Quantum information science is advancing rapidly. At Kyoto University, by utilizing states of light that "cannot be described by classical electromagnetism," such as entangled light, we are breaking the sensitivity limits of conventional optical sensing and pioneering new "photonic quantum sensing" technologies that can add new functions. We have developed world-first photonic quantum sensing technologies such as quantum entanglement microscopes and quantum infrared spectroscopy.

This center, within the Graduate School of Engineering, aims to become a global hub for the advancement of science, social implementation, and human resource development in photonic quantum sensing, in cooperation with the university's headquarters functions, the Graduate School of Science, the Graduate School of Medicine, and external institutions such as the Quantum Technology Innovation Hubs (QIH).

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