The AIP VIC branch ran a field trip to the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) on 25 October this year.

This major new facility – the only underground science lab in the southern hemisphere – is located 1km beneath the surface, in the Stawell Gold Mine in regional Victoria. SUPL is designed to host dark matter experiments and other science projects that require an ultra-low radiation environment provided by a deep underground lab.

Twenty AIP members made the journey underground, including students, professors, high school teachers, and physicists in industry.  They saw the new infrastructure and heard commentary from SUPL Facility Manager Kim Mintern-Lane and AIP President (and dark matter physicist!) Prof Nicole Bell.

Plans for Quantum Year are coming together around the country including:

• Quantum Australia 2025: which will come to Brisbane in March 2025, coinciding with the World Science Festival
• National Science Week: Students across the country will learn to decipher “nature's hidden language” for the National Science Week Schools Theme 2025
• University sponsorship: we’re currently inviting universities to partner with us to develop Quantum Year. RMIT are our first University Gold Partner. We’re also keen to talk with industry.

In other quantum news: Australia’s Chief Scientist, Cathy Foley AO ASM, gave a plenary at the Quantum World Conference in September, Quantum Brilliance founder Andrew Horsley won a Prime Minister’s Science Prize, and we have links to a host of other recent quantum science stories.

Please let us know what you’re planning locally, in your state, or across the country. Email us at quantum2025@aip.org.au.

If you or your organisation would like to partner with the AIP to deliver Quantum Year for Australia please also get in touch at quantum2025@aip.org.au.

Read more about Quantum Year.

• Q-CTRL bolstered by $88 million investment (Forbes reporting; SMH reporting; press release), while Q-CTRL's founder and EQUS chief investigator Michael Biercuk made the Australian's Top 100 Innovator's list.
• Silicon Quantum Computing is readying its first product for launch, with founder Michelle Simmons tipping SQC in the 'quantum race' at SXSW Sydney
• CQC2T announces the successful entanglement of two electrons bound to two different phosphorus atoms across a single silicon chip
• Quantum Brilliance have been busy, snapping up a partnership to build a mobile quantum computer and announcing a collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Lab
• Diraq gets their qubits in synch in research published in Nature Communications led by UNSW PhD student Ingvild Hansen (press release, blog)
• The Queensland government has awarded $10 million to the Quantum Decarbonisation Alliance - a consortium including the CSIRO, the University of Queensland, and many others - to investigate the potential of quantum technology to curtail and reverse carbon pollution
• The Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology (QUBIC) has received $4.7 million from the Queensland government to develop quantum technologies for the upcoming Brisbane Olympic Games, including catching cheats with quantum sensors.
• EQuS researchers are partnering with NASA to bring a space-age heart monitoring technology down to Earth - using quantum sensing to monitor heart health safely and non-invasively.
• Expert commentary on the PsiQuantum partnership in The Conversation and latest coverage on the ABC.
• Infleqtion Australia are expanding their quantum software capability (SuperStaq) in the growing Victorian and Asia-Pacific markets. They were awarded Phase II of the Australian Army’s Quantum Technology Challenge (QTC)
• Andrew Horsley from Quantum Brilliance wins Prime Minister’s New Innovator Prize.

Please let us know what you’re planning for Quantum Year, and look out for information soon about briefings in Perth, Brisbane, and at the AIP Congress in Melbourne.

Read more about Quantum Year.

Would your university like to partner with the AIP to use the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology? With your support we can:

• encourage today’s school and university students to take up the physical sciences;
• address the skills gap that threatens to hold back developments in quantum science, defence, AUKUS priorities, AI and other fields;
• build recognition of the decades of fundamental research funded by the ARC in universities and Centres of Excellence that has led to Australia’s leadership in quantum science.

The AIP, as the peak body for physics in Australia, has the knowledge and networks to bring Quantum Year to life – with your help.

A successful Quantum Year will benefit every Australian university with physical science-based courses and research. You’ll be able to use the Year as a theme throughout your marketing to students, parents, and researchers.

Your financial support will help us ensure that the Year has the widest possible impact.

Your support will also open up opportunities for you to demonstrate and promote your role as leaders in quantum science in Australia.

Three levels of support are available:

• Gold Quantum Year Foundation Partner: $20,000, one per state
• Silver Quantum Year Foundation Partner: $10,000, two per state
• Bronze Quantum Year Foundation Partner: $5,000, up to five per state.

We need your support now, to set up the foundations for the year: website, communication, briefings, newsletters, banners etc. With your help we will be able to reach industry, government, and cultural organisations to ensure that Quantum Year is memorable and impactful.

Read more about Quantum Year.

Australia took top billing at Quantum World Congress last month with Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley addressing a full plenary on quantum technology in the Indo-Pacific.

"You've probably seen quite a few Australians there at the Congress," said Cathy in her remarks. "That's a consequence of decades of patient investment in fundamental work and research."

Cathy spoke at a roundtable event alongside other scientific leaders from India, Japan, the United States, and Australia, the four 'Quad' nations, who have a semi-formal alliance for regional stability.

The speakers agreed that government support for quantum has to be broad, deep, and sustained if the technology is going to play its part in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific.

"You can't turn away from quantum," said Cathy. "This isn't something you can dabble in. You've got to be all-in."

You can find Dr Foley's remarks here, and here's a full playlist of the conference.

Read more about Quantum Year.

Students across the country will learn to decipher “nature's hidden language” as the Australian Science Teachers Association announces its National Science Week Schools Theme for 2025.

The new theme, Decoding the Universe - Exploring the unknown with nature's hidden language, invites students and teachers to "delve into the mysteries of the Universe by exploring the fundamental languages of nature", with a special focus on "the groundbreaking field of quantum science".

The theme, inspired by Quantum Year, will also coincide with Australia's hosting of the 2025 International Maths Olympiad, providing an opportunity to connect foundational STEM skills with the cutting edge of deep tech.

Executive Director of ASTA, Guy Micklethwait, says the new theme reflects "a forward-thinking approach to STEM education, encouraging students to explore the unknown and decode the mysteries of our universe through the powerful lenses of science and mathematics."

"ASTA invites all educators, students and STEM enthusiasts to join in this exciting journey of discovery."

Grants of up to $500 will be available to schools to integrate the theme into their National Science Week programs, with applications opening in March 2025. ASTA will also distribute a resource book packed with information, lesson plans, experiments, and more.

Read more about Quantum Year.

The Quantum Australia 2025 is coming to Brisbane in March

Running from 24 to 27 March, just a few months into the Year of Quantum - it will be four days to bring together the Australian quantum community, from researchers to entrepreneurs and policymakers.

Next year's event will be the first to be run by the new unifying body for quantum science and technology in Australia: Quantum Australia. Established by a Federal Government grant of $18.4 million, Quantum Australia's mission is to bring together the Australian quantum industry and extend its reach, both at home and abroad.

"Quantum Australia gives muscle and momentum to the national quantum strategy," says founding director Stephen Bartlett.

"Its arrival is a signal that industry, government and academia can work together to further press Australia's quantum advantage."

Read more about Quantum Year.

Nominations are now open for the 2025 WIP Lecturer. The award is made annually to recognise and publicise significant contributions by a woman to advancing a field of physics and to inspire future physicists.

The Women in Physics Lecture Tour was established nationally in 1997 to promote the work of outstanding women in Physics and was initiated by the South Australian Branch. In South Australia it is known as the Claire Corani Memorial Lecture. In 2009 a Federal Medal was established to honour the women who had been selected to undertake these national tours and to recognise them for their time and dedication to communicating their research to academics, students and the general public.

Nominations must be received by 15 November 2024.

Apply Here

The lecture tour is expected to include presentations suited to a range of audiences, including school lectures, public lectures and research colloquia (subject to negotiation with the various AIP branches and their contacts). School and public lectures are expected to be of interest to non-specialist physics audiences, and to increase awareness among students and their families of the possibilities offered by continuing to study physics. University lectures will be presented at a level suitable for the individual audience (professional or graduate).

Find out more: 2024 WiP Lecture Tour

In 2025, to celebrate the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, COSMOS Magazine and the Australian Institute of Physics will showcase all things quantum, inspiring the next generation of quantum pioneers.  We want quantum to be understood by everyone, the challenge is how to explain quantum physics to the younger generation as they embrace this collaborative STEM field.

Why not share your knowledge and passion for quantum through our QUANTUM EXPLAINED CHALLENGE.  Imagine you have 90 seconds or 250 words to explain your topic to a middle secondary school audience (12 – 14 years old).  Focus your content on either ‘Quantum Made Clear’ or ‘Quantum in Action’ as you share your expertise using ‘everyday language’, to help those who aren’t experts further their understanding.

COSMOS Magazine and the Australian Institute of Physics will select the best entries for inclusion in a ‘Quantum Explained’ education resource collection to be shared through COSMOS Magazine and Double Helix publications across 2025.

How to be involved:

• Select a focus area linked with ‘Quantum Made Clear’ or ‘Quantum in Action’.

Quantum Made Clear - share the science that underpins quantum, help those who       aren’t experts understand how quantum connects to the science around them.

Quantum in Action - share the ways in which quantum is shaping our world and solving global challenges, include examples of the impact quantum can bring to our lives.

• Create and submit a 90 second video or a 250-word article. All submissions must be in English.
• Find out more and submit your content using the link below. Please include your Name, Organisation, Role Title, and Contact Details. 
• Submissions must be received no later than 5pm, Monday 2^nd December 2024.

Submit Entries Here

• • be over 18 years of age at the time of content creation
  • work and/or study in a field connected with quantum science and technology (scientist, STEM educator/teacher, researcher, science communicator)
  • hold the rights to all images, sound and music included in content
  • acknowledge that all judging decisions by COSMOS Magazine and the Australian Institute of Physics are final

Professor Matthew Bailes heads Australia’s research into fast radio bursts (FRBs) and gravitational waves, both of which are leading to important breakthroughs in astrophysics and cosmology. He and his team discovered the first FRB, a massively energetic flash of radiation from a distant galaxy.

Congratulations Professor Bailes, Swinburne University of Technology and ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), for receiving the 2024 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.

Dr Andrew Horsley founded Quantum Brilliance, making quantum devices with diamonds. He and his team conducted research to address the key barriers to using synthetic diamond for room temperature quantum computing. He has unlocked pathways for quantum computing to become an everyday technology.

Congratulations Dr Horsley for receiving the 2024 Prize for New Innovators.

Distinguished Professor Tianyi Ma has developed new technologies including a floating device that uses solar energy to produce hydrogen from seawater, and a way of turning carbon dioxide into fuels such as ethanol. His research is supporting Australia’s transition to clean energy and net zero.

Congratulations Professor Ma, RMIT University, for receiving the 2024 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year.

More about the 2024 PM's Prizes winners here.