HRH Princess Sirindhorn visits CQT

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of the Kingdom of Thailand (centre) and Professor Pairash Thajchayapong, Specialist & Senior Advisor to Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency (second from left) with the CQT and NUS hosts.

The Centre for Quantum Technologies was graced with a Royal visit on Sunday 20 January, having the honour to host Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of the Kingdom of Thailand and her entourage. The delegation included the Ambassador of Thailand to Singapore and the Ambassador of Singapore to Thailand.

Staff of the National Institute of Metrology Thailand (NIMT) also joined the visit. During the occasion, CQT and NIMT signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support future scientific cooperation.

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand has a strong interest in science and technology. She was visiting Singapore to participate in the Global Young Scientists Summit organised by Singapore’s National Research Foundation.

The visit to CQT was initiated by Professor Pairash Thajchayapong, Specialist & Senior Advisor to Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency. He witnessed the signing of the MOU.

Jirawat Tangpanitanon, a Thai PhD student at CQT, had previously met Professor Thajchayapong through activities of the Quantum Technologies Foundation of Thailand (QTFT), an organisation Jirawat co-founded to foster collaboration among quantum scientists, engineers and investors. Jirawat helped with coordination between the Specialist & Senior Advisor, NIMT and CQT in preparation for the MOU. CQT also has two other Thai students. Thanasilp Supanut recently joined Jirawat in working in the group of CQT Principal Investigator Dimitris Angelakis on quantum computation and simulation. Rattakorn Kaewuam is a fourth-year PhD student working with CQT Principal Investigator Murray Barrett on optical atomic clock research.

Rattakorn’s doctoral study is jointly funded by CQT and Royal Government of Thailand’s Development and Promotion of Science and Technology Talents Project (DPST).

Jirawat, Supanut and Rattakorn joined the team representing CQT on 20 January. The programme featured a talk on quantum computing by Dimitris, followed by visits to Murray’s lab, to view his atomic clock setup, and Alexander Ling’s lab to learn about the Centre’s work on quantum key distribution.

CQT previously welcomed visitors from NIMT and Thailand’s Mahidol University in November 2018, when Singapore was hosting the Asia Pacific Metrology Programme. CQT researchers also participated in 2017 in a Thai-Singapore Scholars Workshop on Topics in Quantum Technology held in Bangkok.

The MOU to foster further collaboration was signed by NIMT’s Director Ajchara Charoensook and CQT’s Deputy Director Lai Choy Heng. The two organisations aim to collaborate on the development of atomic clocks and other aspects of quantum metrology. One possibility is comparing readings from atomic clocks in their two locations through the Global Nagivation Satellite System.

CQT and NIMT plan to cooperate on atomic clock research. Here the delegation is visiting the lab of CQT Principal Investigator Murray Barrett, whose group is designing and building a novel optical atomic clock.