Dirac Labs, a Madison, Wisconsin–based startup that is leveraging quantum sensing and nanophotonics research to develop positioning, tracking, and navigation technologies for autonomous vehicles and other applications, has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange as a corporate partner. The company is the second University of Wisconsin–Madison–incubated startup to join the CQE.
“As a quantum researcher affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I’m familiar with CQE’s tremendous impact in the Midwest quantum ecosystem,” said Sanket Deshpande, who co-founded Dirac Labs with Aishwarya Das. “Partnering with CQE will accelerate the development of Dirac Labs’ quantum sensing platform by ways of engagement with academic researchers, recruiting talented scientists and engineers and collaborating with its industry partners.”
The company is developing systems for the commercial and defense sectors and has received funding from industry, NASA and the US-India Science & Tech Endowment Fund (USISTEF). Quantum sensors can enable highly accurate navigation technology even in challenging environments where traditional GPS might be unreliable by measuring things like gravity and magnetic fields.
Dirac will engage with the CQE through the Founder Platform and research collaborations focused on developing high-accuracy magnetic field datasets using Dirac’s quantum magnetometer.
“Quantum sensing offers unprecedented navigation precision, and we are excited to partner with Dirac Labs and they work to develop these applications,” said David Awschalom, the University of Chicago’s Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and the director of the CQE. “We look forward to fruitful collaborations.”
The CQE is based at the University of Chicago and anchored by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. The CQE includes more than 50 corporate, international, nonprofit, and regional partners
About Dirac Labs: Dirac Labs is developing positioning, tracking and navigation solutions for applications in autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, shipping, asset tracking and robotics. They are leveraging quantum sensing and nanophotonics research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison to build quantum sensors that address limitations of conventional navigation technologies.