Chapter 223

Quantum Research Institute.

Qi Wanpeng was introducing the situation here to Xu Qingzhou.

"We are mainly responsible for the research and development of key equipment such as quantum entanglement sources and quantum experimental control and processing units."

"Our Quantum Communication Laboratory—oh, right, that's the laboratory where you are currently interning—is now focusing on the research, development, and application experiments of quantum communication technology, including the verification and testing of core technologies such as quantum key distribution and quantum teleportation."

Xu Qingzhou nodded from time to time. An institute had many laboratories under it: a space environment laboratory, a quantum physics basic laboratory, and this laboratory of theirs.

On this side, Qi Wanpeng was observing this genius youth with his peripheral vision. His face was refined, and although there was always a mature aura about him that exceeded his peers, there was still an irrepressible youthfulness on his face.

He said with some emotion: "Xu Xu Shidi, you are the first undergraduate student to come here to participate in work."

When he was 18 or 19, he was still considering how to grind to get a full scholarship.

"It's all luck," Xu Qingzhou said, always humble.

Qi Wanpeng smiled, finished introducing the project, and chatted in a relaxed tone: "Xu Xu Shidi, you know what we are researching this quantum satellite for, right?"

Xu Qingzhou said with a smile: "Point 1, to conduct experiments on high-speed star-to-ground quantum key distribution, hoping to experiment with wide-area quantum key networks on this basis, and finally move toward the practical application of space quantum communication."

"Point 2, in the future, we will distribute entangled photons in space, experiment with quantum teleportation, and verify the completeness of quantum mechanics on a space scale."

"Impressive, Xu Xu Shidi."

Qi Wanpeng gave a thumbs up, secretly sighing that he was worthy of being someone who could enter the project as an undergraduate; his logic was complete, and he had summarized the satellite's role concisely and clearly.

He also said at the same time:

"For us, it's not just about answering the relationship between quantum mechanics and gravity; more importantly, through this satellite, we can explore a question that physicists are very concerned about."

"Whether there is a possibility of a grand unification between quantum physics and general relativity!"

Speaking of this, Qi Wanpeng's eyes carried a glow of excitement and anticipation.

Xu Qingzhou sighed in his heart. Let alone now, even seventeen years later, no one had been able to complete this task.

Currently, the four known basic interactions—electromagnetic, weak interaction, and strong interaction—had all achieved quantization and had even reached unification.

Only the quantization of gravitational interaction had not been realized.

Quantum mechanics and general relativity, which explains gravity, were the two pillars of current physics, and any theoretical work attempting to fuse these two into one was quite difficult.

However, the physics field seventeen years later still had quite significant progress; after all, even the lunar base and Mars projects had already been launched...

Physicists, including him, all had a vague feeling, or were anticipating, that in a few years, the whole world might usher in the fourth technological revolution.

Unfortunately, he died suddenly.

Physics grand unification, ah...

Perhaps, he could try it in the future?

Seeing Xu Qingzhou lost in thought, Qi Wanpeng thought Xu Qingzhou was sighing that he was almost thirty and still so naive, so he smiled embarrassedly again: "Sorry to make you laugh, Xu Xu Shidi; I am an idealist, and my thoughts are usually a bit childish."

"I actually think that as a scientific researcher, one should have beautiful thoughts about the future in one's heart. If one focuses entirely on reality, one's thinking will be restricted and one will feel a bit desperate."

Xu Qingzhou said seriously.

"Exactly, that's it!" Qi Wanpeng's eyes burned, as if he had found a kindred spirit.

Under Qi Wanpeng's guidance, Xu Qingzhou went to handle his access card, registered relevant information at the institute, and signed a confidentiality agreement. He also took a look around the temporary dormitory and received a set of bedding and toiletries. Doing experiments was like this; staying up late and working overtime, unable to go home, was the norm. The treatment at the institute went without saying; even interns like him had a subsidy of ten thousand yuan.

Before entering the laboratory, Qi Wanpeng said again:

"By the way, besides you, our laboratory has recently had two other interns, one a first-year master's student and one a first-year doctoral student. They joined the project at the beginning of April."

Xu Qingzhou nodded. Although it was only May, many mentors would let their new students come over early to do odd jobs and adapt to the future research state in advance.

9:30 AM.

Xu Qingzhou felt a wave of emotion, looking at the various familiar experimental equipment. Excluding those who were in the laboratory and those who were out running project errands, there were 4 people in the office.

The middle-aged man in the corner was named Zhong Yongtao, a professor at the University of Science and Technology. The young man on the left was named Xing Yuancheng, a doctoral student from Nanjing University.

The man and woman on the right who were curiously observing Xu Qingzhou were the two interns Qi Wanpeng had just mentioned. The man was named He Dang, a first-year doctoral student from USTC, and the girl was named Deng Ziyi, a first-year master's student from Tsinghua University.

Xu Qingzhou greeted everyone and said he hoped for their guidance in the future.

"Little Xu, here is some information; you can take a look first."

Zhong Yongtao picked up a stack of documents from the side and handed them to Xu Qingzhou: "We belong to the calculation group and need to use knowledge of matrices and linear algebra to handle the evolution, measurement, etc., of quantum states. You should familiarize yourself with the content here as soon as possible."

"Mm, no problem," Xu Qingzhou nodded and sat down at the office desk assigned to him with the materials.

!.

Because everyone was busy, there was no small talk; they were all busy with their own work.

Xu Qingzhou also began to settle down to read the materials, which included the laboratory's goals, progress, work plans, and so on.

According to the project progress, at the latest by the end of February next year, the laboratory had to complete the star-to-ground optical docking test of the quantum science experimental satellite system and the scientific application system, to verify whether the space-ground integrated experimental system could meet the indicators required by the scientific goals.

After all, this was the world's first quantum communication satellite. Because quantum experiments were very complex and the requirements for experimental equipment were extraordinarily high, as far as Xu Qingzhou knew, at that time—which was now—it was being pushed forward with great difficulty.

Just as Xu Qingzhou was reading, He Dang and Deng Ziyi next door looked left and right and had already started chatting privately.

Deng Ziyi: "Wow, Wang Wang Shixiong, the new intern is actually Xu Qingzhou!"

He Dang: "I didn't expect it to be him either; he looks too young."

Deng Ziyi: "I've seen his information before; he hasn't even turned 19 yet. What kind of super invincible genius is this!"

He Dang: "In the field of mathematics, this person is definitely one in a million."

Deng Ziyi: "Wang Wang Shixiong, you say he's so strong in math, why doesn't he strike while the iron is hot and continue to study math deeply? Why did he start tinkering with physics stuff?"

He Dang: "He's also okay at physics. I've read two of his papers on quantum mechanics; they were written quite well."

Deng Ziyi: "Both math and physics are so good; the pressure is so high (weakly)."

He Dang glanced faintly at Xu Qingzhou, who was reading with his head down next to him, and typed again: "Don't panic, don't panic. He majors in math, and he only learned physics later. Both of us are very professional; at the very least, we definitely won't be worse than him in physics."

Deng Ziyi: "That's true. At 19, solving two world-class math problems is already heaven-defying. He shouldn't have that much time and energy to study physics."

He Dang: "The advantage is with us."

Deng Ziyi: "The advantage is with us."

(End of Chapter)