Until recently, a quantum physics experiment was about as far as one could get from advanced industrial engineering. A typical lab setup involves a large steel table, floated on pneumatic legs to isolate vibrations and covered in a small forest of optical components whose true function is understood only by a single PhD student. Above sits a gantry full of buzzing, home- built and bug-ridden electronics, and down the sides of the whole arrangement spills a cascade of tangled, unlabelled wires. Crucially, a key component of many of these experiments is a large ultra-high vacuum (UHV) apparatus, which is essential to isolate the highly-sensitive quantum systems from their environment.
Over the last few years this has all started to change. The quantum systems being studied in these experiments, once no more than an academic curiosity, are finding real world applications as high-precision sensors. Quantum gravimeters are being used to map the underground world, quantum accelerometers are enabling accurate inertial navigation and quantum magnetometers are being used for new kinds of non-invasive medical imaging. This means that quantum devices need to get lighter, smaller, and more robust. They need to be able to cope with changes in temperature and humidity, not break when someone touches them, and be operable by people other than that one PhD student.
