Prof. Jean Dalibard and Christophe Jurczak met, almost twenty-five years ago, in the Kastler-Brossel laboratory in Paris, one of the world’s hot spots for quantum physics. The post-doc became a venture capitalist, co-founder of Quantonation, and the researcher turned Professor at the prestigious Collège de France and was granted in 2021 the French Research Agency (CNRS) most prestigious award for his work. They crossed paths again for an interview with the journal Industrie & Technologies.

The second quantum revolution fits in the big pendulum swing between fundamental research and technology. There is often a one-way vision: a concept developed in research goes to the world of technology and it stops there. But there are actually round trips: it is because tunable lasers were invented in the 1970s that we were able to start manipulate and isolate atoms. Now, it goes back to technology and we are building qubits.

Jean Dalibard

The technologies are relatively immature, further research is needed. But you have to be careful not to depopulate Laboratories. If we want a quantum industry in France, it is necessary to ensure that researchers remain in post. What matters to us investors is to have the best science in the world. Good start-ups are born of the best research teams. The first criteria we have as an investor: physics. What it the science ? Is it top notch ?

Christophe Jurczak

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