Explore by technology

Every quantum technology pillar and its technology families, with a short definition and what the portal holds about each: projects, organisations, infrastructure, documents, courses, jobs, news and more. Choose a pillar or family to open its hub page.

Items are placed under a technology by an authoritative field of their source, by keyword rules on their public title and summary, by an AI suggestion or by an editor. Only confirmed assignments are listed; suggestions by rules or AI that no editor has reviewed yet are counted apart and never listed. How items are classified

The families below mix two kinds of grouping: what a technology does and which quantum system it uses. A faceted view keeps them apart. Quantum sensing and metrology can now be explored by function, physical platform and application sector, and as a function by platform matrix; the other pillars have a draft set of axes. Explore quantum sensing and metrology by facet

Expert review sheet of the faceted taxonomy (every value, definition and source)

4 pillars (three application pillars plus enabling technologies and supply chain), 1 related area and 28 technology families.

• Quantum computing and simulation (1542 confirmed; 1878 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

  Processing information with qubits, and reproducing other quantum systems with controllable quantum devices: quantum processors of every hardware platform, the error correction that protects them, quantum simulators, and the algorithms and programs that run on them.

  Hub page: Quantum computing and simulation

  • Superconducting qubits (222 confirmed; 255 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Qubits made of superconducting electrical circuits with Josephson junctions, operated at millikelvin temperatures and controlled with microwaves.

    Parts tree subsystems of Superconducting circuits 5 subsystems

    • Dilution refrigerator 4 parts Critical raw materials
    • Qubit chip 10 parts Critical raw materials
    • Cryogenic signal lines 4 parts Critical raw materials
    • Readout amplifier chain 2 parts
    • Room-temperature control electronics 3 parts
  • Trapped ions (99 confirmed; 138 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Qubits stored in charged atoms held by electric fields in a vacuum and manipulated with lasers or microwaves.

    Parts tree subsystems of Trapped ions 4 subsystems

    • Ion trap 9 parts Critical raw materials
    • Ultra-high-vacuum system 2 parts
    • Laser and optical control 3 parts
    • State detection 3 parts
  • Neutral atoms (85 confirmed; 99 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Qubits stored in uncharged atoms held in arrays of optical tweezers and coupled through Rydberg states.

    Parts tree subsystems of Neutral atoms 5 subsystems

    • Atomic register and vacuum system 3 parts
    • Optical tweezer array 4 parts
    • Processing lasers 2 parts
    • Fluorescence imaging 2 parts
    • Control electronics and computing 2 parts
  • Photonic qubits (72 confirmed; 93 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Quantum information carried by single photons or squeezed light in optical circuits.

    Parts tree subsystems of Photonic 3 subsystems

    • Photon sources 4 parts
    • Integrated photonic circuits 6 parts Critical raw materials
    • Single-photon detectors 6 parts Critical raw materials
  • Spin qubits in semiconductors (90 confirmed; 114 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Qubits encoded in the spin of electrons or nuclei confined in semiconductor quantum dots or donor atoms.

    Parts tree subsystems of Spin qubits in semiconductors 4 subsystems

    • Semiconductor host material 10 parts Critical raw materials
    • Gate electrodes 2 parts Critical raw materials
    • Spin control 3 parts Critical raw materials
    • Charge sensing and readout 2 parts
  • Colour centres in diamond (45 confirmed; 58 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Qubits held by defects in a crystal, mostly nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond, read out optically.

  • Topological qubits (18 confirmed; 20 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Qubits that would store information in non-local states of exotic quasiparticles, such as Majorana zero modes, designed to be protected from local noise.

  • Quantum annealing (24 confirmed; 26 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Special-purpose quantum processors that look for low-energy solutions of optimisation problems by slowly changing a quantum system.

  • Quantum simulation (289 confirmed; 374 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    A family group of computing and simulation: reproducing the behaviour of another quantum system, such as a material or a molecule, with a controllable quantum device or with quantum algorithms dedicated to that task. Until October 2026 the portal showed quantum simulation as a separate pillar; the draft SRIA 2026 merges it into computing and simulation.

  • Analogue quantum simulators (147 confirmed; 174 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Purpose-built quantum systems, such as cold atoms in optical lattices, whose behaviour mirrors a model under study.

  • Digital quantum simulation (10 confirmed; 16 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Quantum algorithms run on programmable quantum computers to simulate physical or chemical systems.

• Quantum communication (614 confirmed; 730 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

  Sending information protected or carried by quantum states: quantum key distribution, quantum random numbers, entanglement distribution and the quantum networks, memories and satellites that support them.

  Hub page: Quantum communication

  • Quantum key distribution (QKD) (201 confirmed; 241 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Systems that let two parties agree a secret key whose secrecy rests on quantum measurement, over fibre or free space.

    Parts tree subsystems of Quantum key distribution systems 4 subsystems

    • Transmitter 3 parts
    • Quantum channel 2 parts
    • Receiver 6 parts Critical raw materials
    • Classical post-processing 0 parts
  • Quantum random number generation (29 confirmed; 31 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Devices that produce random numbers from a quantum process, used for keys and simulations.

  • Quantum networks and repeaters (218 confirmed; 273 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Networks that distribute entanglement between distant nodes, including repeaters and the protocols of a future quantum internet.

  • Quantum memories (51 confirmed; 58 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Devices that store a quantum state of light or matter and release it on demand, needed by repeaters.

    Parts tree subsystems of Quantum memories for networks 6 subsystems

    • Storage media 7 parts
    • Control lasers and frequency references 1 part
    • Cryogenics 2 parts Critical raw materials
    • Single-photon detection and frequency conversion 2 parts
    • Packaged memory modules 0 parts
    • Repeater nodes and network testbeds 0 parts
  • Satellite quantum communication (12 confirmed; 14 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Quantum communication links through satellites or other free-space platforms over long distances.

• Quantum sensing and metrology (437 confirmed; 559 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

  Measuring time, fields, gravity, rotation or images with a precision that relies on quantum states of atoms, spins or light.

  Hub page: Quantum sensing and metrology

  • Atomic and optical clocks (29 confirmed; 44 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Clocks that count the oscillations of an atomic transition, from microwave to optical frequencies.

    Parts tree subsystems of Quantum sensors and atomic clocks 1 subsystem

    • Alkali vapour cell sensors 3 parts
  • Quantum magnetometers (9 confirmed; 11 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Sensors that measure magnetic fields with atomic vapours or superconducting quantum interference devices.

    Parts tree subsystems of Quantum sensors and atomic clocks 2 subsystems

    • Magnetic shielding and field control 2 parts
    • Diamond and superconducting magnetometers 3 parts
  • Quantum gravimeters and inertial sensors (31 confirmed; 67 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Atom-interferometer sensors that measure gravity, acceleration or rotation.

    Parts tree subsystems of Quantum sensors and atomic clocks 2 subsystems

    • Cold-atom inertial and gravity sensors 3 parts
    • Lasers for atomic sensors 1 part
  • Quantum imaging (53 confirmed; 62 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Imaging that uses entangled or squeezed light, or single-photon detection, to see beyond classical limits.

  • Colour-centre sensors (8 confirmed; 12 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Sensors that use nitrogen-vacancy or other colour centres in diamond to measure fields at small scales.

• Enabling technologies and supply chain (449 confirmed; 596 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

  The supply chain the three application pillars are built from, as the SRIA treats it: quantum chips and their fabrication, materials, cryogenics, photonics and lasers, control electronics, and the software stack. It is not a catch-all: work that names no quantum technology belongs to none of the pillars.

  Hub page: Enabling technologies and supply chain

  • Cryogenics and cooling (18 confirmed; 23 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Equipment that cools quantum devices to kelvin or millikelvin temperatures, such as dilution refrigerators and cryostats, and the cryogenic wiring and electronics inside them.

  • Photonics, lasers and optics (243 confirmed; 346 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Lasers, optical components, integrated photonic circuits and single-photon detectors used to control and read quantum systems.

  • Control electronics (35 confirmed; 39 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Electronics that generate, route and read the signals that drive qubits and sensors, including cryo-CMOS and readout amplifiers.

  • Quantum chips, materials and fabrication (52 confirmed; 89 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Quantum chip manufacturing and its materials: substrates, thin films, the foundry and pilot-line processes, design kits and packaging used to make quantum chips and devices.

  • Quantum software stack (86 confirmed; 95 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Programming frameworks, compilers, simulators of quantum computers, benchmarking and control software that make quantum hardware usable.

• Quantum-safe security (post-quantum cryptography) Related area (238 confirmed; 361 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

  Classical cryptography designed to resist attacks by future quantum computers, and the migration of products and organisations to it. A related area, not a quantum technology: it runs on ordinary computers.

  Hub page: Quantum-safe security (post-quantum cryptography)

  • Post-quantum algorithms and standards (86 confirmed; 115 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Classical public-key algorithms believed to resist quantum attacks, such as lattice-based schemes, and their standards.

  • Post-quantum products (39 confirmed; 45 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Libraries, hardware security modules, network equipment and operating systems that ship post-quantum algorithms.

  • Post-quantum migration (1 confirmed; 2 including suggestions not yet reviewed)

    Inventories, road maps and coordination that move an organisation or a sector to quantum-safe cryptography.

Below the families, the parts tree breaks 8 platforms down into subsystems, components and materials, with the critical raw materials marked. Parts tree of quantum technologies