Quest for speed drives top quantum scientist

As the first among the eight to return to China, Guo organized the country's first academic conference on quantum optics in 1984 with the support of USTC, the Hefei-based university that employed him. The conference, which has become regular since then, plays a vital role in strengthening the discipline and the research in China.

Guo also set up the nation's first quantum optics course at USTC and published the country's first textbook of the field based on his lectures.

By the 1990s, Guo was preparing for another transition. "The road of quantum optics research will inevitably lead to quantum information, an interdisciplinary field which I think would have more academic vitality," says Guo of the quest for a quantum computer. He has always believed exploring new scientific fields to be far more important than following the existing hot spots.

In 1997, Guo achieved a major breakthrough in quantum coding, which has revolutionized the field of information theory. His project has become part of the country's 973 Program under the Ministry of Science and Technology. His project has more than 50 scientists from more than 10 academic institutions nationwide.

"This top-notch quantum scientist group will play a vital role in the future development of China's quantum technology," says Guo, who is now the director of the Hefei-based Key Laboratory of Quantum Information under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

As China, the US and other major powers are racing to develop the first quantum computer, he says Chinese scientists are going all out to win the championship. "A quantum computer can revolutionize humans' lives as the electronic one has been doing in the past decades," says Guo excitedly.

A quantum computer could, as the theory goes, carry out millions of calculations simultaneously, according to Guo, who dreams of developing the world's first quantum chip.