From a letter to a quantum legion

Xinchao IC

2024-05-15 14:41Published on the official account of "Xinchao IC" under Beijing Core Observation

"White House Selection" is new again!

On May 9, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a controversial final rule in the Federal Register, adding 37 Chinese companies to the so-called "Entity List."

It includes a number of research institutes under China Electronics Technology Group, CETC Chip Technology (Group) Co., Ltd., University of Science and Technology of China, as well as Beijing Institute of Quantum Information Science, Origin Quantum and many other quantum technology research institutions and entities. It can be seen that this time, the scope of the US strike has spread from semiconductors to the field of quantum computing.

It is not the first time that Chinese scientific research institutions and institutions have been included in the Entity List, but why did USTC choose this time?

USTC is located in Hefei City, Anhui Province, is a red university founded for the cause of "two bombs and one satellite", and is now a national key university directly under the Chinese Academy of Sciences that focuses on cutting-edge science and high technology, as well as medicine, characteristic management and humanities, and ranks among the "Double First-Class", "985 Project" and "211 Project".

USTC is known for its excellence in ace majors such as Materials Science, Chemistry, Environment/Ecology, Engineering Science, and Computer Science. In addition, USTC has strong strength in the quantum field, and the university has successfully realized the "Jiuzhan No. 3" optical quantum computing prototype, and achieved the largest 51-bit quantum entangled state preparation and many other major scientific research achievements, and the three academicians of "GDP" (Guo Guangcan, Du Jiangfeng, Pan Jianwei) have sent many elites to the quantum field.

Relying on the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei and even the whole of Anhui Province are actively building a source of quantum innovation technology around quantum communication, quantum computing, quantum precision measurement and other fields, and is becoming a hub for quantum science and technology innovation. Today, let's talk about two or three things about the thriving growth of USTC and quantum computing in the land of Hefei.

01 Hefei accepted the University of Science and Technology of China, but accidentally planted the seeds of the "Quantum Capital".

Behind Hefei and USTC is a story of seeing the truth in adversity.

Founded in Beijing in 1958, the university is a red university founded specifically for the cause of "two bombs and one satellite". Under the leadership of the first president, Guo Moruo, USTC became one of the country's leading universities in the second year of its establishment. In 1969, colleges and universities in Beijing had to be evacuated to all parts of the country, and USTC was one of them.

At that time, it was difficult for colleges and universities to relocate, and USTC could not find a place to land due to the huge investment in scientific research. Hubei, Jiangxi, and Henan all said that they couldn't afford it, and Jiangxi explicitly refused, but Anhui used the power of the whole province to accept the University of Science and Technology of China. Li Desheng, then director of the Anhui Provincial Revolutionary Committee, said: "Even if the people of Anhui do not eat or drink, they must keep the seedlings of science in China. ”

Anhui arranged the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, the provincial capital, and gave the original location of Hefei Normal University and Bank Cadre School to the University of Science and Technology of China as the school site. Although the campus area is less than 60,000 square meters, it is the best condition that Hefei can get at that time, and in this way, USTC has taken root in Hefei.

However, the southward migration process was bumpy, and the scientific research strength of USTC suffered serious losses. At that time, the University of Science and Technology of China lost more than two-thirds of its instruments and equipment, and more than half of its teachers were lost; By 1972, the older generation of teachers had suffered serious losses, and there were only 9 professors and 13 associate professors in the university.

However, Hefei spared no effort to help the University of Science and Technology of China - Hefei does not have central heating, but the University of Science and Technology of China has the first "warm line" in Anhui Province and enjoys the treatment of special open heating; USTC is also the highest-level power supply guarantee unit in Hefei, the municipal government can cut off power, and the campus can not have power outages; If the traffic is inconvenient, the bus line will be opened; The Provincial Hospital, one of the best hospitals in Anhui, was also allocated to the University of Science and Technology of China......

However, USTC has not given up its mission of serving the country through science and education, and has worked hard to cultivate batches of scientific research talents and outstanding young people. After the reform and opening up, USTC took the lead among universities in the country to open up its education to the world, selected outstanding young teachers to study and visit Europe and the United States, selected outstanding students to study abroad for doctoral degrees, created the first junior class, and established the first graduate school...... USTC has rapidly formed a talent team with strong innovation ability, mainly young talents.

In the 21st century, USTC has combined its own advantages and characteristics to fully develop the layout of emerging sciences closely related to the national innovation-driven strategy, such as quantum information, clean energy, new engineering and new medicine, forming advantages and characteristics in cutting-edge research and high-tech fields.

Since the relocation, Hefei has been providing the best possible conditions for the teachers and students of USTC who are dedicated to scientific research. The University of Science and Technology of China also uses its scientific research strength to give back to Hefei, and gradually builds Hefei into a "famous city of science and education" and a "quantum center".

Nowadays, quantum has gone from the "unpopular" to the hottest outlet in the world, and Hefei has become the center of the development of the national quantum industry and the leader in the development of quantum science and technology in the world, which is inseparable from the University of Science and Technology of China and the scientists who are willing to sit on the cold bench.

02 USTC's quantum "Big Three"

And the quantum research at USTC starts with a letter.

In 1981, Nobel laureate in physics Richard Feynman first proposed the concept of quantum computers. In the same year, Guo Guangcan, the pioneer, pioneer and founder of quantum optics and quantum information science in China, passed the public examination and was sent to Canada for visiting study. Guo Guangcan was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China in 1960, and later received a bachelor's degree in radio electronics and stayed on to teach.

During his overseas study visits, Guo Guangcan found that quantum optics research, which is not recognized in China, has lagged behind foreign countries by 20 years. As a result, he decided to promote the development of quantum optics in China.

After returning to China in 1983, the first thing Guo Guangcan did was to open up research in the field of quantum optics in China. At that time, many people in China had not heard of the concept of quantum, and quantum information was even considered pseudoscience, but Guo Guangcan still insisted. In 1984, Guo Guangcan presided over the first academic conference on quantum optics in China. Since then, he has opened the first quantum optics course and the first quantum information laboratory in China. These seemingly trivial tasks have popularized the knowledge of quantum optics and can be called enlightenment.

In 1998, Guo Guangcan wanted to plan and organize the Xiangshan Science Conference on "Quantum Communication and Quantum Computing". Initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology (formerly the State Science and Technology Commission), the Xiangshan Science Conference focuses on the scientific frontiers of basic research and scientific problems in major engineering and technological fields in mainland China.

According to the usual practice, each Xiangshan meeting must be presided over by a famous scientist. Guo Guangcan, who had been searching for no results, remembered Qian Xuesen and wrote a letter inviting Qian Xuesen to preside over the Xiangshan Science Conference on "Quantum Communication and Quantum Computing".

Guo Guangcan didn't know Qian Xuesen at the time, but decided to take a chance for the future of "quantum information". Unexpectedly, Guo Guangcan soon received a reply from Qian Xuesen.

"I said that if China wants to compete in this field (quantum information), it must pool its domestic strength. It is necessary to organize the most powerful team in the country in the same way as when it was engaged in two bombs and one satellite, and concentrate firepower to engage in (quantum information). Qian Xuesen wrote in the letter.

Letter from Qian Xuesen

Guo Guangcan, who was encouraged, began to actively lay out. At that time, the state implemented the 973 Program to support basic research with major application prospects. Upon learning of this news, Guo Guangcan submitted an application. "I think quantum information is the most suitable, and we must not let the motherland and myself miss the historical opportunity of quantum information." In 2001, Guo Guangcan finally applied for the first 973 project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China "Quantum Communication and Quantum Information Technology".

As the first person to introduce quantum information into China, Guo Guangcan has sat on the cold bench for more than ten years, never flinched because of the difficult road ahead, and tirelessly preached for the Chinese quantum field, influencing many scholars, including Pan Jianwei, the father of Chinese quantum.

In 1987, 17-year-old Pan Jianwei was admitted to the Department of Modern Physics of the University of Science and Technology of China, and was fascinated by the mystery of quantum mechanics for the first time in an experimental class. After graduating with a bachelor's degree, Jianwei Pan went on to pursue a master's degree in theoretical physics with a focus on quantum fundamental theory.

After receiving his master's degree in 1996, Pan Jianwei joined the University of Innsbruck in Austria to study for a doctorate under Professor Salinger. During his Ph.D., Pan Jianwei always had a belief: "I want to build a world-leading laboratory in China like your lab." ”

Therefore, when Guo Guangcan formed a team and recruited members, Pan Jianwei did not hesitate to choose to return to China and return to his alma mater, University of Science and Technology of China, to set up a quantum mechanics laboratory. Later, Pan Jianwei became one of the pioneers in the field of quantum information experimental research in the world, taking the lead in breaking through the key technologies of quantum information processing and comprehensively solving the security problem of quantum secure communication under realistic conditions. led the successful development of the world's first quantum science experimental satellite "Micius"; The world's first quantum secure communication backbone network "Beijing-Shanghai trunk line" was built; The first prototype of a wide-area quantum secure communication network integrating air-ground was constructed......

The members who were also recruited to the project team also included Pan Jianwei's brother Du Jiangfeng. In 1969, Du Jiangfeng was born in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, and was sent to the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China at the age of 16. At the age of 28, he began to enter the latest experimental research field of quantum computing at that time, and became one of the first scientists in mainland China to engage in this research.

In 2002, Du Jiangfeng successfully realized the experimental research of quantum game for the first time in the world, and realized the first publication of China's domestic quantum computing experimental research in the international authoritative journal "Physical Review Letters". In 2009, he led a research team to achieve optimal dynamic decoupling in a real solid-state system for the first time. The importance of this research lies in the fact that it greatly improves the performance of real-world physical systems, thus taking an important step towards the realization of quantum computing.

It is understood that Guo Guangcan's "973" project invited more than 50 researchers, almost bringing together the main research teams that may carry out research in this field in China at that time, and these researchers provided the backbone of China's quantum field. Among them, Pan Jianwei, Guo Guangcan, Du Jiangfeng and other three professors of USTC have stepped out of the ivory tower to promote scientific research achievements to the industry, so they are known as the "three giants of USTC" by the outside world.

03 Quantum Street came out of unicorns in batches

Teachers and students have passed on the torch from generation to generation, leading quantum out of the laboratory and occupying the highland of industrialization.

Today, Hefei has become the main gathering place of the quantum industry, gathering 66 industrial chain enterprises, with Guodun Quantum, Origin Quantum, Guoyi Quantum, etc. as the representative of the industry leaders, and the birth of a number of major industrialization achievements. Interestingly, this batch of quantum enterprises in Hefei actually led a road - Yunfei Road in Hefei High-tech Zone, a few hundred meters of street, there are more than 20 upstream and downstream affiliated enterprises in the quantum field, covering quantum communication, quantum computing, quantum precision measurement and other fields, because it is called "quantum avenue".

And the formation of this quantum avenue is not accidental. In 2009, when the team of Pan Jianwei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, decided to establish the first quantum communication industrialization company in China, the then leaders of Hefei High-tech Zone immediately made a decision: "Come on, there is no doubt here." In May 2009, Pan Jianwei led his student Peng Chengzhi and others to establish Anhui Quantum Communication Technology Co., Ltd., which is the predecessor of Guodun Quantum.

In a small office in the "Overseas Students Pioneer Park" in Hefei High-tech Zone, the earliest enterprises engaged in the industrialization of quantum secure communication in China have gradually grown. In 2020, Guodun Quantum landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, and is the first A-share listed company in the field of quantum technology in China. On the first day of listing, the company's issue price was 36.18 yuan, and the stock price rose 923.91%, and once soared 1002.82% during the session, setting a new record for the first day of A-share growth at that time.

Also located on Quantum Avenue is a well-known company in Origin Quantum. In 2017, Guo Guangcan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Guo Guoping, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, led the establishment of Origin Quantum, a leading figure in China's quantum computing industry, which is the first enterprise in China dedicated to the full-stack development of quantum computers.

Focusing on the core business of quantum chips, quantum computing measurement and control all-in-one machines, quantum operating systems, quantum software, quantum computing cloud platforms and quantum computing science education, the company has developed full-stack quantum computing and actively promoted the implementation of the quantum computing industry.

At present, Origin Quantum has become the leading quantum computing enterprise in China, and has developed a number of quantum computers and successfully delivered them. In January this year, China's third-generation independent superconducting quantum computer "Origin Wukong", independently developed by Origin Quantum, was successfully connected to the Wuhu Cluster Computing Power Public Service Platform of the Yangtze River Delta Hub, which is the third supercomputing center of "Origin Wukong" online, marking the official completion of China's "four calculations in one" system of general computing, intelligent computing, supercomputing and quantitative computing.

Another star enterprise of Quantum Avenue, Guoyi Quantum, is a start-up company from the Key Laboratory of Microscopic Magnetic Resonance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the University of Science and Technology of China. At the end of 2016, with more than 10 years of experience in the development of high-end scientific instruments and key core devices, He Yu, who is a doctoral student, and Du Jiangfeng, his mentor, founded Guoyi Quantum, with quantum precision measurement as its core business.

In addition, the industrialization of the quantum field began to accelerate, and a number of quantum information companies such as Wentian Quantum and Guosheng Quantum have emerged from Hefei. From Quantum Avenue to Hefei and even the entire Anhui Province, it has firmly grasped the second wave of quantum science and technology revolution and has become a hub for quantum science and technology innovation.

Hefei's achievements in the quantum field are the result of long-term efforts.

04 Conclusion

By reviewing the history of quantum development in Hefei and USTC, we have also seen the strength of China's scientific research in the quantum field. Data shows that China has the largest investment in quantum information technology in the world, and has built the world's largest quantum laboratory. As of 2022, China's investment in quantum information technology has reached US$15.3 billion, far exceeding Europe's US$8.4 billion and the United States' US$3.7 billion.

But from this list, we can clearly know that the competition for the "second quantum revolution" has entered a critical stage.

In the information age, once quantum computing technology breaks through, countries that have mastered this capability will quickly establish all-round superiority in the economic, military, scientific research, security, and other fields. Kiyoki Tsutsui, an expert at Stanford University in the United States, said: "Quantum computing is likely to become a relatively important battlefield in the competition between the United States and China, because it is directly related to the field of security. Researchers are becoming more and more competitive for innovation in this area, and they need to further develop practical technologies. ”

The progress and competition in quantum technology will inevitably drive innovation, and the race in the quantum field is a competition that no one can afford to lose, and China is no longer playing the role of a catch-up.

This article is from the WeChat public account "XinchaoIC" (ID: xinchaoIC), author: Wang Yike, if you need to reprint, please contact us.

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