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Quantum mechanics: from strange rules to new technologies
It all started with a lightbulb. Not a metaphorical one, but a real, glowing filament whose colour and brightness physicists at the turn of the 20th century could not explain. Why did hot objects glow the colours they did? That deceptively simple puzzle sent Planck, Einstein and Bohr down a path that led to quantum mechanics, a theory that still feels counterintuitive, yet has passed every experimental test we’ve been able to throw at it. A century later, the same ideas are powering a new wave of technologies, from quantum computing and ultra-sensitive sensors to new approaches to secure communication.
Join Dr Fedja Orucevic (Reader in Quantum Physics, University of Sussex) for a jargon-free tour of how quantum mechanics was born, why it seemed so strange at first, and how its key ideas of superposition, measurement and entanglement are now underpinning a new wave of quantum technologies.
We’ll follow how those early ideas grew into today’s quantum technologies: how quantum computers are beginning to tackle certain problems beyond the reach of classical machines, how quantum sensors can detect signals of extraordinary subtlety, and how quantum cryptography is building new foundations for secure communication. You'll also get a glimpse of where the field is heading, and why its future belongs not just to physicists, but to engineers, coders, designers and problem-solvers of every kind.
This session is for sixth form students (and parents), and Sussex students interested or taking Physics, Maths, Computing, Engineering and Technology. No prior knowledge is required, just curiosity.
In this session you will:
- understand the core ideas behind quantum technologies without the heavy maths
- see how one of the most abstract theories in science is quietly transforming world around us
- hear what studying quantum physics at Sussex can look like, and the skills and career paths the field opens up
- ask questions during a Q&A.