Quantum technology 2.0 -- topics and contributing countries from 1980 to 2018

TL;DR

This study analyzes the development of quantum technology from 1980 to 2018 through publication data, highlighting key periods, research topics, and the contributions of top countries, especially the US and China.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of quantum technology's evolution, identifying periods of growth and the geographic distribution of research contributions.

Findings

Three distinct growth periods identified in quantum technology research.

China's publication output exceeds the US in quantity but not in highly-cited papers.

Research topics evolved from pioneering works to mature applications.

Abstract

The second quantum technological revolution started around 1980 with the control of single quantum particles and their interaction on an individual basis. These experimental achievements enabled physicists and engineers to utilize long-known quantum features - especially superposition and entanglement of single quantum states - for a whole range of practical applications. We use a publication set of 54,598 papers from the Web of Science published between 1980 and 2018 to investigate the time development of four main subfields of quantum technology in terms of numbers and shares of publication as well as the occurrence of topics and their relation to the 25 top contributing countries. Three successive time periods are distinguished in the analyses by their short doubling times in relation to the whole Web of Science. The periods can be characterized by the publication of pioneering works, the exploration of research topics, and the maturing of quantum technology, respectively. Compared to the US, China has a far over proportional contribution to the worldwide publication output, but not in the segment of highly-cited papers.