QTEAM: Quantum Technologies Enabled by Additive Manufacturing

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Quantum technologies (QT) have the potential to transform many aspects of our technology and society. To date, they provide the world's most accurate clocks for precision timing and navigation, as well as high-performance sensors for e.g. magnetic and gravitational fields, which are already finding applications in subterranean mapping and medical imaging. However, the complexity of these devices makes them bulky and unreliable; so far, this has heavily restricted their use in real-world applications.Additive Manufacturing (AM), more commonly known as "3D printing", is a key emerging technology that can provide a step-change in the quest to make quantum devices smaller, more power-efficient, and more reliable. AM allows the rapid, cost-effective manufacture of geometrically complex parts, featuring performance-enhancing structures that would be near impossible or extremely expensive and laborious to produce via conventional methods. So far, the application of AM within quantum technologies has been extremely limited. However, just as in many other technological areas, AM has the potential to offer substantial benefits for QT. Developing design methods and exploiting AM techniques for the QT sector will be key to the future of the industry.The current state-of-the-art in AM for QT, developed by Nottingham University and Added Scientific Ltd, represents a convincing proof-of-principle of the applicability of AM within the QT sector and the potential benefits it offers. QTEAM aims to take that further and fully exploit the benefits of AM to produce a best-in-class compact atomic gravimeter for space-based applications using industrial processes. This builds upon a design that is currently being developed by RAL space (STFC -- Laboratories). Proving the efficacy of AM components for QT will open a new market within the sector, as these techniques will be useful across a wide range of QT devices. UK-based project partners Metamorphic Additive Manufacturing Ltd and Torr Scientific Ltd, supported by the know-how and intellectual property resulting from this project, will be ideally placed to lead industry activity in this new and important area.