Metrology for Quantum Hardware Standardization -- Charting a Pathway: A Strategic Review

TL;DR

This paper reviews how quantum metrology supports the standardization and industrialization of quantum hardware, emphasizing measurement needs, standardization opportunities, and cross-platform frameworks for quantum technologies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of metrology requirements and standardization pathways for quantum computing and sensing technologies, highlighting cross-cutting measurement challenges.

Findings

Identification of key metrology capabilities for quantum hardware

Discussion of standardization opportunities across quantum platforms

Analysis of measurement needs for emerging quantum sensing applications

Abstract

Advances in quantum mechanics have long underpinned metrology by enabling practical realizations of units through quantum effects. With the 2019 SI revision, traceability is anchored in defined fundamental constants, reinforcing the quantum-mechanical basis of modern standards. In parallel, quantum technologies are transitioning from laboratory science to engineering and early industrial deployment, bringing familiar pressures for integration, reliability, cost reduction, supply-chain formation, and standardization. The direction of benefit is thus reversing: metrology and precision measurement are becoming enabling infrastructure for the industrialization of quantum technologies. Against this backdrop, this paper surveys the metrology and precision-measurement capabilities required across representative quantum-computing modalities and identifies where electrical and related metrology can contribute to the development, characterization, and reliable operation of quantum hardware. We then discuss cross-cutting measurement needs and standardization opportunities that recur across platforms, and note how similar frameworks can extend to emerging quantum-sensing applications.