Journeying into Quantum and Landscape of Academic Literature in Quantum Tech.

Speaker 1: Dr. Sonali Mohapatra works as Space Quantum Technologies Deputy Lead at the Space Engineering Company, Craft Prospect, and has an IAA research fellowship with the University of Strathclyde. With a Ph.D. in quantum gravity and theoretical physics and interdisciplinary experience spanning optics, AI, and quantum information, Sonali brings quantum expertise into the space sector. She is currently leading quantum modeling and QKD demonstration as part of the technical team of the upcoming ROKS mission which will be launched in 2022. She is also researching other early-stage quantum technologies that can benefit from access to space.
Apart from that, Sonali has extensive experience in the EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) sector, is a board member of QuantumIndia, one of the founding members of the SSLC new voices in Space Group focussing on diversity and inclusion, and is the founder of the queer/feminist platform, Carved Voices. Sonali published her first poetry collection, Leaking Ink in 2016 and is currently working on her next manuscript. She is passionate about outreach and regularly writes articles and speaks about her work.

Speaker 2: Zeki Seskir received his M.Sc. degrees in Physics (2015), and Science and Technology Policy Studies (2019), and is a Ph.D. candidate in Physics at METU, Ankara. His research interests include quantum networks, foundations of quantum mechanics, quantum education, quantum games, technology assessment, science and technology studies, and the societal impact of quantum technologies. He is a member of the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S).

Talk 1: Journeying into the quantum.
Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss my journey working across various fields in theoretical physics, experimental physics, AI, optics, and quantum technologies and what I currently do at Craft Prospect in Glasgow as my role as Space Quantum Technologies Developer. I will discuss the upcoming space mission ROKS due to be launched in 2022, augmenting the future of cybersecurity by using quantum cryptography, and what are the steps of onboarding quantum technologies into space.

Talk 2: The Landscape of Academic Literature in Quantum Technologies
Abstract: In this study, we investigated the academic literature on quantum technologies (QT) using bibliometric tools. We used a set of 49,823 articles obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) database using a search query constructed through expert opinion. Analysis of this revealed that QT is deeply rooted in physics, and the majority of the articles are published in physics journals. Keyword analysis revealed that the literature could be clustered into three distinct sets, which are (i) quantum communication/cryptography, (ii) quantum computation, and (iii) physical realizations of quantum systems. We performed a burst analysis that showed the emergence and fading away of certain key concepts in the literature. This is followed by co-citation analysis on the highly cited articles provided by the WoS, using these we devised a set of core corpus of 34 publications. Comparing the most highly cited articles in this set concerning the initial set, we found a clear difference in most cited subjects. Finally, we performed co-citation analyses on country and organization levels to find the central nodes in the literature. Overall, the analyses of the datasets allowed us to cluster the literature into three distinct sets, construct the core corpus of the academic literature in QT, and identify the key players on country and organization levels, thus offering insight into the current state of the field. Search queries and access to figures are provided in the appendix.