The rate at which quantum computing is hitting the media stream is ever-increasing. This piece is a compilation derived from The Shorts posted on The Qubit Report this week. Mea Cubitt
Business & Industry
New platform opens quantum networking to everyone | Starting today, everyone can freely access Quantum Network Explorer (QNE) to experiment with quantum networks. QNE is developed by QuTech—a collaboration between Delft University of Technology and TNO—and specifically aimed at researchers, students, software developers and future users of quantum network applications. QuTech believes in the power of community and wants to contribute by enabling users from different backgrounds to explore and experience the possibilities of quantum networks. Source: SCIENCEX. New platform opens quantum networking to everyone…
Qunnect Announces Sale of First Commercial Quantum Memory | Qunnect, INC., a Quantum Networking company, announces the sale of the world’s first commercial Quantum Memory to Brookhaven National Laboratory. Quantum Memories are critical components for enabling future quantum-secure networks, as they support distributed entanglement communication protocols, and serve as core components in quantum repeaters. Source: PR Newswire. Qunnect Announces Sale of First Commercial Quantum Memory…
Quantum Computing Inc. to Present at the Benchmark Discovery 1×1 Investor Conference, December 2, 2021 | Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) (Nasdaq: QUBT), a quantum software leader in bridging the power of classical and quantum computing, has been invited to present at the Benchmark Discovery 1×1 Investor Conference being held virtually on December 2, 2021. Source: GlobeNewswire. Quantum Computing Inc. to Present at the Benchmark Discovery 1×1 Investor Conference, December 2, 2021…
OXFORD INSTRUMENTS NANOSCIENCE PARTNERS ON THREE INNOVATE UK QUANTUM COMPUTER PROJECTS | Oxford Instruments NanoScience has announced its partnership in three major projects funded through Innovate UK’s ‘Commercialising Quantum Technologies’ category with industry-leading organisations SEEQC, Quantum Motion and sureCore. Source: BUSINESS & INNOVATION. OXFORD INSTRUMENTS NANOSCIENCE PARTNERS ON THREE INNOVATE UK QUANTUM COMPUTER PROJECTS…
New platform opens quantum networking to everyone | Starting today, everyone can freely access Quantum Network Explorer (QNE) to experiment with quantum networks. QNE is developed by QuTech—a collaboration between Delft University of Technology and TNO—and specifically aimed at researchers, students, software developers and future users of quantum network applications. QuTech believes in the power of community and wants to contribute by enabling users from different backgrounds to explore and experience the possibilities of quantum networks. Source: QuTech. New platform opens quantum networking to everyone…
Quantum Networks | In the broadest sense, a quantum network is composed of interconnected systems and components that operate according to the laws of quantum mechanics. Information sent and processed on such a network also follows the principles of quantum mechanics – it is quantum information. Source: Quantum Network Explorer. Quantum Networks…
Algorithms & Software
Math may have caught up with Google’s quantum-supremacy claims | In 2019, word filtered out that a quantum computer built by Google had performed calculations that the company claimed would be effectively impossible to replicate on supercomputing hardware. That turned out to not be entirely correct, since Google had neglected to consider the storage available to supercomputers; if that were included, the quantum computer’s lead shrank to just a matter of days. Source: ars technica. John Timmer Math may have caught up with Google’s quantum-supremacy claims…
Exploring Airline Gate-Scheduling Optimization Using Quantum Computers | One of the many complex problems facing the airline industry today is how to optimize large combinations of cargo and passenger traffic among the planes, gates, personnel and the air traffic flows originating or terminating at an airport. Finding solutions to this complex combinatorial optimization problem is important for airlines in order to be able to control costs and minimize inefficiencies (Stollenwerk et al. (2019)). Source: arxiv.org. Exploring Airline Gate-Scheduling Optimization Using Quantum Computers…
2021 ACM Gordon Bell Prize awarded to team for achieving real-time simulation of random quantum circuit | ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, named a 14-member team, drawn from Chinese institutions, recipients of the 2021 ACM Gordon Bell Prize for their project, Closing the “Quantum Supremacy” Gap: Achieving Real-Time Simulation of a Random Quantum Circuit Using a New Sunway Supercomputer. Source: EurekAlert!. 2021 ACM Gordon Bell Prize awarded to team for achieving real-time simulation of random quantum circuit…
(INTERVIEW) Cryptolab aims to secure firm position in global homomorphic encryption market | As a pioneer in homomorphic encryption research, Cheon Jung-hee, a prominent mathematician and cryptographer in South Korea, has pushed for the early introduction of quantum-resistant cryptography technology, saying that if quantum computers are commercialized, existing encryption algorithms, which were difficult to solve even after decades, will be resolved within minutes. Source: Aju Business Daily. (INTERVIEW) Cryptolab aims to secure firm position in global homomorphic encryption market…
Cybersecurity & Cryptography
Without quantum security, our blockchain future is uncertain | News that two teams of Chinese scientists have achieved quantum advantage — a technical term for when a computer can perform functions beyond that of a classical computer — may be the signal that we have truly entered a new era. While Google’s 54-qubit quantum processor, Sycamore, became the first widely known example of early-stage quantum computing, the latest news out of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei is the best proof yet that we have crossed the information rubicon. Source: COINTELEGRAPH. Without quantum security, our blockchain future is uncertain…
Report: China to Target Encrypted Data as Quantum Advances | Chinese threat actors may increasingly look to steal sensitive, encrypted data in hopes of decrypting it with quantum computing technology in the years ahead, according to a new report. Researchers say Chinese threat actors may target government, private sector and academic data with long-term value, including trade secrets, biometric identification markers, Social Security numbers, criminal records, weapon designs, and research and development around pharmaceuticals, biology, materials science, and chemistry, among other areas. Source: HEALTHCARE INFO SECURITY. Report: China to Target Encrypted Data as Quantum Advances…
Public Key Encryption Dead Before 50? | November 2021 marks the 45th anniversary of when Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman published their paper, New Directions in Cryptography, introducing the world to a new system for developing and exchanging keys over an insecure channel. The Diffie-Hellman key exchange has since become one of the most important developments in public-key cryptography and is frequently used in a range of different security protocols including, TLS, IPsec, SSH, PGP, and many others. Source: QUANTUMXCHANGE. Public Key Encryption Dead Before 50?
Message Received: Studying Quantum Channels | Physicists study many forms of communication, including quantum communication. Thanks to specific properties of quantum mechanics, like entanglement, information integrity can be better maintained with quantum communications, even being hackproof in some cases. Quantum entanglement is the property that allows two molecules, each in a random quantum state, to be in perfect harmony with each other. This is important, as one common test of quantum communication devices, a.k.a., quantum channels, is to send entangled photons (light particles) down these channels. Entanglement helps when photons are lost or absorbed, as the redundancy in information being sent this way ensures that some of the information will still reach the receiver. Source: JILA. Message Received: Studying Quantum Channels…
In a quantum future, our economy needs to be protected. A cyber security expert explains why | The privacy of online communication is currently protected by cryptography, which shields information as it travels around the internet. It secures everything from making online purchases to accessing work email remotely. With capabilities of quantum computing growing rapidly, industry experts reckon that it will take at least another 10 years before quantum computers with very large numbers of qubits are available. Source: World Economic Forum. In a quantum future, our economy needs to be protected. A cyber security expert explains why…
Technology & Hardware
TU Delft creates one of the world’s most precise microchip sensors – thanks to a spiderweb | A team of researchers from TU Delft managed to design one of the world’s most precise microchip sensors; the device can function at room temperature – a ‘holy grail’ for quantum technologies and sensing. Combining nanotechnology and machine learning inspired by nature’s spiderwebs, they were able to make a nanomechanical sensor vibrate in extreme isolation from everyday noise. This breakthrough, published in Advanced Materials’ Rising Stars Issue, has large implications for the study of gravity and dark matter, as well as the fields of quantum internet, navigation and sensing. Source: EurekAlert!. TU Delft creates one of the world’s most precise microchip sensors – thanks to a spiderweb…
Silicon Photonic Chip Increases Quantum Security | Researchers from Nanjing University and Sun Yat-sen University developed a quantum communications platform based on a silicon photonic chip with a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD). The chip’s performance enabled the team to realize optimal time-bin Bell-state measurement, and to significantly enhance the key rate in quantum communication. Source: PHOTONICS MEDIA. Silicon Photonic Chip Increases Quantum Security…
Secretum: A Next-Generation NFT Trading Platform | The proliferation of NFT gaming is adding more fuel to the fire – Axie Infinity, one of the most popular NFT metaverses, is on track to generate $2.7 billion in 2021, almost only from sales of character and in-game NFTs. Source: beincrypto. Secretum: A Next-Generation NFT Trading Platform…
Quantum brain sensors could spot dementia after Hub researchers at the University of Sussex find they track brain waves | New highly sensitive quantum sensors for the brain may in the future be able to identify brain diseases such as dementia, ALS and Parkinsons, by spotting a slowing in the speed at which signals travel across the brain. The research findings from a paper led by University of Sussex quantum physicists are published in Scientific Reports journal. Source: quantumsensors.org. Quantum brain sensors could spot dementia after Hub researchers at the University of Sussex find they track brain waves…
Photonic chip that isolates light could end size limitations in quantum computing and devices | Researchers at the University of Illinois used readily available materials to create a small photonic circuit that uses sound waves to isolate and control light and can adapt to different wavelengths. The innovation could lead to miniaturized quantum devices that transform quantum computing and information systems. Source: National Science Foundation. Photonic chip that isolates light could end size limitations in quantum computing and devices…
New quantum microscope enhances sensitivity avoiding photodamage | A team of researchers from ICFO, Politecnico di Milano, Micro Photon Devices, Fraunhofer IOF, partners of the Q-MIC project, report on the scientific achievements of a novel quantum-enhanced microscope. Source: ICFO. New quantum microscope enhances sensitivity avoiding photodamage…
New device modulates visible light—without dimming it—with the smallest footprint and lowest power consumption | Over the past several decades, researchers have moved from using electric currents to manipulating light waves in the near-infrared range for telecommunications applications such as high-speed 5G networks, biosensors on a chip, and driverless cars. This research area, known as integrated photonics, is fast evolving and investigators are now exploring the shorter—visible—wavelength range to develop a broad variety of emerging applications. These include chip-scale LIDAR (light detection and ranging), AR/VR/MR (augmented/virtual/mixed reality) goggles, holographic displays, quantum information processing chips, and implantable optogenetic probes in the brain. Source: PHYS.ORG. New device modulates visible light—without dimming it—with the smallest footprint and lowest power consumption…
Leading the Future of T&M Industry | For the past 75 years, Tektronix has been at the forefront of the world’s greatest technological achievements, accelerating global advancements by empowering today’s leading engineers and engineering students. Source: PR Newsire. Leading the Future of T&M Industry…
Bluefors Oy: Introducing KIDE – the New Cryogenic Platform | HELSINKI, Nov. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — We are proud to introduce a new cryogenic platform named KIDE that will play an important role for future research and development of quantum computing. KIDE enables unprecedented expandability and access to meet the requirements of next level quantum computing. KIDE will enable more cooling power and flexibility than any ultra-low temperature measurement system that has come before. In Finnish language, kide means snow crystal and the KIDE cryogenic platform resembles a hexagonal crystal-like geometry. Source: CISION. Bluefors Oy: Introducing KIDE – the New Cryogenic Platform…
Government & Policy
View from India: Bengaluru’s innovation draws international investment | India’s demographic dividend owes credit to the massive pool of highly skilled, competent and educated workforce. Indian corporations have a big advantage in adopting digital technologies both at a faster pace and also cost effectively, given that most of the globally applicable innovations and solutions are coming out of laboratories based in the country. This has resulted in an increased influx of investments into the country in recent years. Source: E&T. View from India: Bengaluru’s innovation draws international investment…
Report: China May Steal Encrypted Government Data Now to Decrypt with Quantum Computers Later | Though they are years from being fully realized, quantum technologies are altering the U.S. cyber threat landscape in serious ways and organizations should start acting now to ensure their infrastructure and data will be protected as the field evolves, according to a new report from Booz Allen Hamilton. Source: Nextgov. Report: China May Steal Encrypted Government Data Now to Decrypt with Quantum Computers Later…
QuSecure Honored with Acceptance Into the Quantum Alliance Initiative | QuSecure, Inc., (QuSecure) a leading provider of post-quantum cybersecurity solutions, today announces its acceptance into the Hudson Institute’s Quantum Alliance Initiative (QAI), an international consortium of companies, institutions, and universities whose mission is to raise awareness and develop policies which will help the U.S. enterprises and government agencies prepare for quantum computer cyberattacks by 2025. Source: PR.com. QuSecure Honored with Acceptance Into the Quantum Alliance Initiative…
NIST Wants to Know How Govt, Industry Are Using Emerging Tech | The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a request for information in the Federal Register to gain insight into the role of emerging technologies in the public and private sector. Source: government technology. NIST Wants to Know How Govt, Industry Are Using Emerging Tech…
New investment in Australia’s quantum technology industry | The Australian Government has announced its key measures to grow Australia’s quantum industry. Source: Australian Government. New investment in Australia’s quantum technology industry…
Math may have caught up with Google’s quantum-supremacy claims | In 2019, word filtered out that a quantum computer built by Google had performed calculations that the company claimed would be effectively impossible to replicate on supercomputing hardware. That turned out to not be entirely correct, since Google had neglected to consider the storage available to supercomputers; if that were included, the quantum computer’s lead shrank to just a matter of days. Source: ars technica. Math may have caught up with Google’s quantum-supremacy claims…
An interview with MANA scientists in NIMS’ Quantum Materials Project | The NIMS Quantum Materials Project is WPI-MANA’s newly formed group for research into creating and exploiting quantum materials. Recently the Japanese government selected a number of priority research projects and has directed funds toward them. Source: NIMS. An interview with MANA scientists in NIMS’ Quantum Materials Project…
India’s PM calls for Bitcoin protection, tech collaboration | Australia, India, and other peace-loving countries must work together to ensure cryptocurrency “does not end up in the wrong hands”, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, has said in warning that peace-loving countries “are at an historic moment of choice” in shaping the legacy of the “wonderful powers of technology of our age”. Source: INFORMATIONAGE. India’s PM calls for Bitcoin protection, tech collaboration…
DARPA Selects BAE Systems to Advance Quantum Technology for Military Antennas | BAE Systems has been awarded multiple development contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advance quantum technology and revolutionize radio frequency (RF) sensing by breaking constraints to antenna designs that have persisted for more than a century. Leveraging quantum sensing can reduce size, and increase sensitivity and accessible bandwidth by several orders of magnitude. Source: businesswire. DARPA Selects BAE Systems to Advance Quantum Technology for Military Antennas…
Canada’s Semiconductor Council Releases Action Plan; Aims to Build Chip-Fuelled Economy by 2050 | Canada’s Semiconductor Council releases a comprehensive action plan to transform Canada into a leader in the US$7 trillion global semiconductor market. As the global chip shortage continues to wreak havoc on Canada’s supply chain and economy, the 106-page report, titled Roadmap to 2050: Canada’s Semiconductor Action Plan, lays out short-term, medium-term, and long-term recommendations to build Canada’s semiconductor industry. The action plan positions Canada to be a developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of the semiconductor products that are embedded in our most innovative technologies, including electric vehicles, medical devices, consumer electronics, precision agriculture and more. Source: businesswire. Canada’s Semiconductor Council Releases Action Plan; Aims to Build Chip-Fuelled Economy by 2050…
$111 million investment to back Australia’s quantum technology future | The Morrison Government is investing $111 million to secure Australia’s quantum future, supporting the commercialisation, adoption and use of this new technology to create jobs, support Australian business and keep Australians safe. Source: Australian Minister for Science and Technology. $111 million investment to back Australia’s quantum technology future…
Australia signs quantum technology cooperation agreement with United States | Australia and the United States have signed a joint statement to cooperate on quantum technology innovation and commercialisation. The statement aims to enhance each country’s quantum industry capabilities through improved market access and knowledge sharing. Source: Australian Government. Australia signs quantum technology cooperation agreement with United States…
Science & Research
Ytterbium ion trap quantum computing: The current state-of-the-art | The history of classical computers is a progression from the first proofs of concept, using vacuum tubes, to the eventual sophistication of modern silicon-based architecture. Now, quantum computers are moving from proof of concept to practical design and are at the point of scaling to increasingly large numbers of coherent, well-connected qubits. Source: AVS Quantum SCIENCE. Ytterbium ion trap quantum computing: The current state-of-the-art…
WPI-MANA Probing Potential of Quantum Materials | The NIMS Quantum Materials Project is WPI-MANA’s newly formed group for research into creating and exploiting quantum materials. Recently the Japanese government selected a number of priority research projects and has directed funds toward them. One of the fields of interest is quantum technology — quantum computing, quantum information and so on — related to the very small physical world, the quantum domain. WPI-MANA spoke to two scientists of the NIMS project: Source: CISION . WPI-MANA Probing Potential of Quantum Materials…
NTT Research PHI Lab Adds to its Scientific Staff | NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), announced that in the first eight months of 2021, its Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab has gained six new scientists. These include Senior Research Scientists Adil Gangat and Sho Sugiura; Research Scientists Thibault Chervy, Edwin Ng, and Gautam Reddy; and Post-doctoral Fellow Yonghwi Kim. These additions bring the total number of PHI Lab scientists to 18, including PHI Lab Director Yoshihisa Yamamoto, generating further momentum to this group as NTT Research begins its third year of operations. Source: businesswire. NTT Research PHI Lab Adds to its Scientific Staff…
New quantum microscope enhances sensitivity avoiding photodamage | Invented more than 350 years ago and considered a ground breaking discovery, this instrument is now omnipresent in many fields of science. Chemists, biologists, clinicians, physicists, and even engineers rely on the capabilities of different types of microscopes to unveil the inner structures of organisms and matter that we cannot see with our naked eye. Most microscopes use light as the tool to illuminate transparent or semi-transparent samples, and allow us to see what is happening inside. Some samples tolerate high intensity levels of light, but others, like some molecules and cells, are extremely delicate and become damaged or even die under such intense radiation. This is not good for experimental accuracy. Source: EurekAlert! New quantum microscope enhances sensitivity avoiding photodamage…
Getting quantum dots to stop blinking | Quantum dots, discovered in the 1990s, have a wide range of applications and are perhaps best known for producing vivid colors in some high-end televisions. But for some potential uses, such as tracking biochemical pathways of a drug as it interacts with living cells, progress has been hampered by one seemingly uncontrollable characteristic: a tendency to blink off at random intervals. That doesn’t matter when the dots are used in the aggregate, as in TV screens, but for precision applications it can be a significant drawback. Source: PHYS.ORG. Getting quantum dots to stop blinking…
Energizer atoms: JILA researchers find new way to keep atoms excited | JILA researchers have tricked nature by tuning a dense quantum gas of atoms to make a congested “Fermi sea,” thus keeping atoms in a high-energy state, or excited, for about 10% longer than usual by delaying their normal return to the lowest-energy state. The technique might be used to improve quantum communication networks and atomic clocks. Source: EurekAlert! Energizer atoms: JILA researchers find new way to keep atoms excited..
