Inside the clean room in the Quantum Technology Centre

Quantum Technology Centre

Our unique expertise and world-class facilities allow quantum technologies to be used in new products and processes to revolutionise electronics, medicine, energy and computing.

Quantum Technology is a term to describe electronic materials and devices where effects caused by the quantum nature of matter become significant in their design and performance.

Lancaster Quantum Technology Centre (QTC) provides a focus for future quantum technologies. We are based in Lancaster University’s Physics Department, a working community of 145 researchers and 80 students.

Our unique expertise and multi-million-pound facilities enable the translation of quantum technologies into new products and processes to revolutionise the electronics, medicine, energy and computing industries.

Bringing Science into the Marketplace

We provide a state-of-the-art capability enabling quantum technologies to be used in new products and processes. We want to bring economic benefit to the region and accelerate the pull-through of science into the marketplace.

World-Class Facilities

The Faculty of Science and Technology has created a world-class facility which consists of:

  • New class 100 and class 1000 clean rooms
  • State-of-the-art measurement equipment
  • Dedicated technical support

The LQTC establishes a significant new technology presence in the Northwest.

Research

  • Superconducting Quantum Circuits

    Our research is focused on the creation, manipulation and measurement of quantum states in solid-state systems. This requires control at the level of a single charge, single flux quantum, single photon and single phonon. Superconductors are one natural material choice for building such devices.

  • Quantum Technologies at Ultra-Low Temperatures

    Lancaster has a worldwide reputation for providing these low-temperature environments with advanced cryogenic engineering and has accompanying expertise in ultra-sensitive measurement techniques and the development of specialised instrumentation.

  • Semiconductor Nanostructures and Quantum Devices

    Our research focuses on the self-assembled and site-controlled epitaxial growth of new semiconductor nanostructures and their application in quantum devices including novel LEDs, lasers and photodetectors.

  • Quantum Nanomechanics

    Quantum Nanomechanics explores nanoscale mechanical systems that operate in the regime where laws of quantum mechanics dominate their behaviour.

  • Quantum Information

    Our research group focuses on developing novel solutions to the practical application of quantum information systems, by combining the growth of semiconductor nanostructures with nano-scale device processing, and novel optoelectronic control and measurement schemes.

  • Quantum Technologies with 2D Materials

    Our research is primarily focused on the fabrication and transport properties of the encapsulated ultra-high mobility graphene devices and the graphene superlattices (including investigation of the Hofstadter butterfly in extremely high magnetic fields).

  • Theory and Modelling

    Lancaster's renowned Condensed Matter Theory group employs quantum-mechanical methods to uncover novel phenomena and working principles in low-dimensional systems and devices, as has extensive expertise in determining the characteristics of novel and artificial materials.