Frequently Asked Questions

Indian Quantum Lab is a free, open-source educational platform dedicated to making quantum computing education accessible to every Indian student. We offer structured courses, interactive tools, blog articles, research resources, and a thriving community — all completely free, forever.

We're designed for three main audiences: (1) Complete beginners with no quantum background who want to start learning, (2) Engineering and science students looking to add quantum skills, and (3) Researchers and professionals exploring quantum applications in their field. Content ranges from absolute basics to advanced research topics.

Yes, 100% free and always will be. Our core mission is to democratize quantum education. All courses, tools, blog posts, community access, and resources are completely free. We sustain ourselves through sponsorships, institutional partnerships, and voluntary donations — never through paywalls or premium tiers.

The platform was founded by Arjun Mehta, a quantum computing researcher based in Bengaluru with a background in physics from IISc. Today we're supported by a team of 8 volunteer contributors (PhD students, engineers, and educators) and partners at 12+ engineering colleges across India. Learn more on our About page.

We love contributions! You can help by: (1) Writing blog posts or tutorials, (2) Reviewing content for accuracy, (3) Contributing code to our open-source tools, (4) Helping mentor beginners in the Discord community, or (5) Translating content to regional Indian languages. Check our Contributing Guide on GitHub.

Just visit our Courses page and start watching — no sign-up required! All video courses are embedded from YouTube for fast loading. Your progress is saved automatically in your browser's localStorage, so you can pick up where you left off on the same device.

Yes! When you mark all lectures in a course as complete, you'll see a "Get Certificate" button that generates a shareable certificate with a unique ID. You can download it as PDF or share directly on LinkedIn. Note: Our certificates are proof of completion for personal use, not formally accredited credentials.

Each course is tagged with its level: Beginner (no prerequisites, just curiosity and basic math), Intermediate (comfortable with linear algebra basics), and Advanced (familiar with quantum gates and algorithms). We recommend following our Learning Pathways for a structured progression.

Our courses use YouTube for video hosting. You can use YouTube Premium's official offline feature to download videos for offline viewing on mobile devices. We also provide downloadable PDF notes for every course that you can study offline.

Our three learning pathways have estimated times: Beginner (~8 hours across 10 lessons), Intermediate (~12 hours across 8 lessons), and Advanced (~10 hours across 6 lessons). Most learners study 2-3 hours per week, so expect 1-2 months per path. But go at your own pace — there's no deadline!

For beginner content: Basic high school math (vectors, complex numbers) and curiosity are enough. For intermediate content: Comfort with linear algebra (matrices, eigenvectors) and basic Python. For advanced content: Solid quantum mechanics foundations and programming experience. We provide resources for building missing prerequisites in our Resources page.

Nope! Our website, Virtual Lab, and most courses work on any modern device with a browser — even budget smartphones and old laptops. The Virtual Lab simulates up to 4 qubits right in your browser using math.js, no heavy computation needed. Our downloadable desktop app has modest requirements: 8GB RAM minimum, works on Windows/Mac/Linux.

For most learning paths, nothing! Our browser-based tools (Virtual Lab, blog posts, courses) work without installation. For hands-on Qiskit programming, you'll want Python 3.8+ and the qiskit library (we provide setup guides). Optional: our desktop app for advanced simulations.

Yes! IBM Quantum provides free access to real quantum processors through IBM Cloud. After completing our beginner track, you'll learn to submit circuits to actual quantum computers. We also provide tutorials on using IonQ, Rigetti, and AWS Braket for access to different hardware platforms.

Your learning progress, quiz scores, and certificates are stored only in your browser's localStorage — nothing is sent to our servers. This means your data stays private but also doesn't sync across devices. Clearing browser data will reset your progress. We're working on an optional cloud sync feature (opt-in only) for 2026.