My previous column about the possibility of pairing artificial intelligence with quantum computing to supercharge both technologies generated a storm of feedback via Twitter and email. Quantum computing is a science that is still somewhat misunderstood, even by scientists working on it, but might one day be extremely powerful. And artificial intelligence has some scary undertones with quite a few trust issues. So I understand the reluctance that people have when considering this marriage of technologies.

Unfortunately, we dont really get a say in this. The avalanche has already started, so its too late for all of us pebbles to vote against it. All we can do now is deal with the practical ramifications of these recent developments. The most critical right now is protecting government encryption from the possibility of quantum hacking.

Two years ago I warned that government data would soon be vulnerable to quantum hacking, whereby a quantum machine could easily shred the current AES encryption used to protect our most sensitive information. Government agencies like NIST have been working for years on developing quantum-resistant encryption schemes. But adding AI to a quantum computer might be the tipping point needed to give quantum the edge, while most of the quantum-resistant encryption protections are still being slowly developed. At least, that is what I thought.

One of the people who contacted me after my last article was Andrew Cheung, the CEO of 01 Communique Laboratory and IronCAP. They have a product available right now which can add quantum-resistant encryption to any email. Called IronCAP X, its available for free for individual users, so anyone can start protecting their email from the threat of quantum hacking right away. In addition to downloading the program to test, I spent about an hour interviewing Cheung about how quantum-resistant encryption works, and how agencies can keep their data protection one step ahead of some of the very same quantum computers they are helping to develop.

For Cheung, the road to quantum-resistant encryption began over 10 years ago, long before anyone was seriously engineering a quantum computer. It almost felt like we were developing a bulletproof vest before anyone had created a gun, Cheung said.

But the science of quantum-resistant encryption has actually been around for over 40 years, Cheung said. It was just never specifically called that. People would ask how we could develop encryption that would survive hacking by a really fast computer, he said. At first, nobody said the word quantum, but that is what we were ultimately working against.

According to Cheung, the key to creating quantum-resistant encryption is to get away from the core strength of computers in general, which is mathematics. He explained that RSA encryption used by the government today is fundamentally based on prime number factorization, where if you multiply two prime numbers together, the result is a number that can only be broken down into those primes. Breaking encryption involves trying to find those primes by trial and error.

So if you have a number like 21, then almost anyone can use factorization to quickly break it down and find its prime numbers, which are three and seven. If you have a number like 221, then it takes a little bit longer for a human to come up with 13 and 17 as its primes, though a computer can still do that almost instantaneously. But if you have something like a 500 digit number, then it would take a supercomputer more than a century to find its primes and break the related encryption. The fear is that quantum computers, because of the strange way they operate, could one day do that a lot more quickly.

To make it more difficult for quantum machines, or any other kind of fast computer, Cheung and his company developed an encryption method based on binary Goppa code. The code was named for the renowned Russian mathematician who invented it, Valerii Denisovich Goppa, and was originally intended to be used as an error-correcting code to improve the reliability of information being transmitted over noisy channels. The IronCAP program intentionally introduces errors into the information its protecting, and then authorized users can employ a special algorithm to decrypt it, but only if they have the private key so that the numerous errors can be removed and corrected.

What makes encryption based on binary Goppa code so powerful against quantum hacking is that you cant use math to guess at where or how the errors have been induced into the protected information. Unlike encryption based on prime number factorization, there isnt a discernible pattern, and theres no way to brute force guess at how to remove the errors. According to Cheung, a quantum machine, or any other fast system like a traditional supercomputer, cant be programmed to break the encryption because there is no system for it to use to begin its guesswork.

A negative aspect to binary Goppa code encryption, and also one of the reasons why Cheung says the protection method is not more popular today, is the size of the encryption key. Whether you are encrypting a single character or a terabyte of information, the key size is going to be about 250 kilobytes, which is huge compared with the typical 4 kilobyte key size for AES encryption. Even ten years ago, that might have posed a problem for many computers and communication methods, though it seems tiny compared with file sizes today. Still, its one of the main reasons why AES won out as the standard encryption format, Cheung says.

I downloaded the free IronCAP X application and easily integrated it into Microsoft Outlook. Using the application was extremely easy, and the encryption process itself when employing it to protect an email is almost instantaneous, even utilizing the limited power of an average desktop. And while I dont have access to a quantum computer to test its resilience against quantum hacking, I did try to extract the information using traditional methods. I can confirm that the data is just unreadable gibberish with no discernable pattern to unauthorized users.

Cheung says that binary Goppa code encryption that can resist quantum hacking can be deployed right now on the same servers and infrastructure that agencies are already using. It would just be a matter of switching things over to the new method. With quantum computers evolving and improving so rapidly these days, Cheung believes that there is little time to waste.

Yes, making the switch in encryption methods will be a little bit of a chore, he said. But with new developments in quantum computing coming every day, the question is whether you want to maybe deploy quantum-resistant encryption two years too early, or risk installing it two years too late.

John Breeden II is an award-winning journalist and reviewer with over 20 years of experience covering technology. He is the CEO of the Tech Writers Bureau, a group that creates technological thought leadership content for organizations of all sizes. Twitter: @LabGuys

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Is Now the Time to Start Protecting Government Data from Quantum Hacking? - Nextgov

Thanh Nguyen is in the habit of breaking down barriers. Take languages, for instance: Nguyen, a third-year doctoral candidate in nuclear science and engineering (NSE), wanted to connect with other people and cultures for his work and social life, he says, so he learned Vietnamese, French, German, and Russian, and is now taking an MIT course in Mandarin. But this drive to push past obstacles really comes to the fore in his research, where Nguyen is trying to crack the secrets of a new and burgeoning branch of physics.

My dissertation focuses on neutron scattering on topological semimetals, which were only experimentally discovered in 2015, he says. They have very special properties, but because they are so novel, theres a lot thats unknown, and neutrons offer a unique perspective to probe their properties at a new level of clarity.

Topological materials dont fit neatly into conventional categories of substances found in everyday life. They were first materialized in the 1980s, but only became practical in the mid-2000s with deepened understanding of topology, which concerns itself with geometric objects whose properties remain the same even when the objects undergo extreme deformation. Researchers experimentally discovered topological materials even more recently, using the tools of quantum physics.

Within this domain, topological semimetals, which share qualities of both metals and semiconductors, are of special interest to Nguyen.They offer high levels of thermal and electric conductivity, and inherent robustness, which makes them very promising for applications in microelectronics, energy conversions, and quantum computing, he says.

Intrigued by the possibilities that might emerge from such unconventional physics, Nguyen is pursuing two related but distinct areas of research: On the one hand, Im trying to identify and then synthesize new, robust topological semimetals, and on the other, I want to detect fundamental new physics with neutrons and further design new devices.

On a fast research track

Reaching these goals over the next few years might seem a tall order. But at MIT, Nguyen has seized every opportunity to master the specialized techniques required for conducting large-scale experiments with topological materials, and getting results. Guided by his advisor,Mingda Li, the Norman C Rasmussen Assistant Professor and director of theQuantum Matter Group within NSE, Nguyen was able to dive into significant research even before he set foot on campus.

The summer, before I joined the group, Mingda sent me on a trip to Argonne National Laboratory for a very fun experiment that used synchrotron X-ray scattering to characterize topological materials, recalls Nguyen. Learning the techniques got me fascinated in the field, and I started to see my future.

During his first two years of graduate school, he participated in four studies, serving as a lead author in three journal papers. In one notable project,described earlier this year in Physical Review Letters, Nguyen and fellow Quantum Matter Group researchers demonstrated, through experiments conducted at three national laboratories, unexpected phenomena involving the way electrons move through a topological semimetal, tantalum phosphide (TaP).

These materials inherently withstand perturbations such as heat and disorders, and can conduct electricity with a level of robustness, says Nguyen. With robust properties like this, certain materials can conductivity electricity better than best metals, and in some circumstances superconductors which is an improvement over current generation materials.

This discovery opens the door to topological quantum computing. Current quantum computing systems, where the elemental units of calculation are qubits that perform superfast calculations, require superconducting materials that only function in extremely cold conditions. Fluctuations in heat can throw one of these systems out of whack.

The properties inherent to materials such as TaP could form the basis of future qubits, says Nguyen. He envisions synthesizing TaP and other topological semimetals a process involving the delicate cultivation of these crystalline structures and then characterizing their structural and excitational properties with the help of neutron and X-ray beam technology, which probe these materials at the atomic level. This would enable him to identify and deploy the right materials for specific applications.

My goal is to create programmable artificial structured topological materials, which can directly be applied as a quantum computer, says Nguyen. With infinitely better heat management, these quantum computing systems and devices could prove to be incredibly energy efficient.

Physics for the environment

Energy efficiency and its benefits have long concerned Nguyen. A native of Montreal, Quebec, with an aptitude for math and physics and a concern for climate change, he devoted his final year of high school to environmental studies. I worked on a Montreal initiative to reduce heat islands in the city by creating more urban parks, he says. Climate change mattered to me, and I wanted to make an impact.

At McGill University, he majored in physics. I became fascinated by problems in the field, but I also felt I could eventually apply what I learned to fulfill my goals of protecting the environment, he says.

In both classes and research, Nguyen immersed himself in different domains of physics. He worked for two years in a high-energy physics lab making detectors for neutrinos, part of a much larger collaboration seeking to verify the Standard Model. In the fall of his senior year at McGill, Nguyens interest gravitated toward condensed matter studies. I really enjoyed the interplay between physics and chemistry in this area, and especially liked exploring questions in superconductivity, which seemed to have many important applications, he says. That spring, seeking to add useful skills to his research repertoire, he worked at Ontarios Chalk River Laboratories, where he learned to characterize materials using neutron spectroscopes and other tools.

These academic and practical experiences served to propel Nguyen toward his current course of graduate study. Mingda Li proposed an interesting research plan, and although I didnt know much about topological materials, I knew they had recently been discovered, and I was excited to enter the field, he says.

Man with a plan

Nguyen has mapped out the remaining years of his doctoral program, and they will prove demanding. Topological semimetals are difficult to work with, he says. We dont yet know the optimal conditions for synthesizing them, and we need to make these crystals, which are micrometers in scale, in quantities large enough to permit testing.

With the right materials in hand, he hopes to develop a qubit structure that isnt so vulnerable to perturbations, quickly advancing the field of quantum computing so that calculations that now take years might require just minutes or seconds, he says. Vastly higher computational speeds could have enormous impacts on problems like climate, or health, or finance that have important ramifications for society. If his research on topological materials benefits the planet or improves how people live, says Nguyen, I would be totally happy.

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Cracking the secrets of an emerging branch of physics - MIT News

Some hope that a move to quantum computingqubits instead of bits, analog instead of digitalwill work wonders, including the invention of the true thinking computer. In last weeks podcast, futurist George Gilder and computer engineer Robert J. Marks looked at, among other things, whats really happening with quantum computing:

(The quantum computing discussion begins at 15:04.)

Robert J. Marks: Whats your take on quantum computing? It seems to me that theres been glacial progress in the technology.

George Gilder (pictured): I think quantum computing is rather like AI, in that it moves the actual problem outside the computational process and gives the illusion that it solved the problem, but its really just pushed the problem out. Quantum computing is analog computing, thats what it is. Its changing primitives of the computation to quantum elements, which are presumably the substance of all matter in the universe.

Note: Quantum computing would use actual quantum elements (qubits) to compute instead of digital signals, thus taking advantage of their subatomic speed. But AI theorists have noted, that doesnt get around the halting problem (the computer actually doesnt know what it is doing). That means that a computer still wouldnt replicate human intelligence. That, in turn, is one reason that quantum supremacy can sound a lot like hype.

George Gilder: But still youve got to translate the symbols in the world, which in turn have to be translated from the objects in the world, into these qubits, which are quantum entities. Once youve defined all these connections and structured the data, then the problem is essentially solved by the process of defining it and inputting it into the computer but quantum computing again is a very special purpose machine, extremely special purpose. Because everything has to be exactly structured right for it.

Robert J. Marks: Yeah, thats my point. I think that once we get quantum computing and if it works well, we can also do quantum encryption, which quantum computing cant decode. So thats the next step. So yeah, thats fascinating stuff.

In his new book, Gaming AI (free download here. ), Gilder explains one of the ways quantum computing differs from digital computing:

The qubit is one of the most enigmatic tangles of matter and ghost in the entire armament of physics. Like a binary digit, it can register 0 or 1; what makes it quantum is that it can also register a nonbinary superposition of 0 and 1.

In 1989 I published a book, Microcosm, with the subtitle The Quantum Era in Economics and Technology. Microcosm made the observation that all computers are quantum machines in that they shun the mechanics of relays, cogs, and gears, and manipulate matter from the inside following quantum rules. But they translate all measurements and functions into rigorous binary logicevery bit is 1 or 0. At the time I was writing Microcosm, a few physicists were speculating about a computer that used qubits rather than bits, banishing this translation process and functioning directly in the quantum domain. (P. 39)

The quantum world impinges on computer technology whether we like it or not:

For example, today the key problem in microchips is to avoid spontaneous quantum tunneling, where electrons can find themselves on the other side of a barrier that by the laws of classical physics would have been insurmountable and impenetrable. In digital memory chips or processors, spontaneous tunneling can mean leakage and loss. In a quantum computer, though, such quantum effects may endow a portfolio of features, providing a tool or computational primitive that enables simulation of a world governed by quantum rules. (p. 40)

Quantum rules, while strange, might insure the integrity of a connection because entangled quantum particles respond to each other no matter how far they are separated:

A long-ago thought experiment of Einsteins showed that once any two photonsor other quantum entitiesinteract, they remain in each others influence no matter how far they travel across the universe (as long as they do not interact with something else). Schrdinger christened this entanglement: The spinor other quantum attributeof one behaves as if it reacts to what happens to the other, even when the two are impossibly remote. (p. 40)

So, apart from interaction, no one can change only the data on their side without it being noticed

Underlying all this heady particle physics and quantum computing speculations is actually a philosophical shift. As Gilder puts it in Gaming AI,

John Wheeler provocatively spoke of it from bit and the elementary act of observer-participancy: in short all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe.(p. 41)

Which is another way of saying that in reality information, rather than matter and energy, rules our universe.

Also discussed in last weeks podcast (with links to the series and transcripts):

While the West hesitates, China is moving to blockchain. Life After Google by George Gilder, advocating blockchain, became a best seller in China and received a social sciences award. George Gilder, also the author of Gaming AI, explains why Bitcoin might not do as well as blockchain in general, as a future currency source.

You may also enjoy: Will quantum mechanics produce the true thinking computer. Quantum computers come with real world problems of their own.

and

Why AI geniuses havent created true thinking machines. The problems have been hinting at themselves all along.

Next: Whats the future for carbon computing?

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Does Schrdinger's Cat Think Quantum Computing Is a Sure Thing? - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Quantum Computing in Aerospace and Defense Market 2020: Latest Analysis:

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Quantum Computing in Aerospace and Defense Market Forecast to 2028: How it is Going to Impact on Global Industry to Grow in Near Future - Eurowire

Dr Zi Yang MENG from Division of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science, the University of Hong Kong (HKU), is pursuing a new paradigm of quantum material research that combines theory, computation and experiment in a coherent manner. Recently, he teamed up with Dr Wei LI from Beihang University, Professor Yang QI from Fudan University, Professor Weiqiang YU from Renmin University and Professor Jinsheng WEN from Nanjing University to untangle the puzzle of Nobel Prize-winning theory Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) phase.

Not long ago, Dr Meng, Dr Li and Dr Qi achieved accurate model calculations of a topological KT phase for a rare-earth magnet TmMgGaO4 (TMGO), by performing computation on the Supercomputers Tianhe 1 and Tianhe 2 (see supplementary information); this time, the team overcame several conceptual and experimental difficulties, and succeeded in discovering a topological KT phase and its transitions in the same rare-earth magnet via highly sensitive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic susceptibility measurements, means of detecting magnetic responses of material. The former one is more sensitive in detecting small magnetic moments while the latter one can facilitate easy implementation of the experiment.

These experimental results, further explained the quantum Monte Carlo computations of the team, have completed the half-a-century pursuit of the topological KT phase in quantum magnetic material, which eventually leads to the Nobel Physics Prize of 2016. The research findings are recently published in renowned academic journal Nature Communications.

KT phase of TMGO is detected

Quantum materials are becoming the cornerstone for the continuous prosperity of human society, including the next-generation AI computing chips that go beyond Moore's law, the high-speed Maglev train, and the topological unit for quantum computers, etc. However, these complicated systems require modern computational techniques and advanced analysis to reveal their microscopic mechanism. Thanks to the fast development of the supercomputing platforms all over the world, scientists and engineers are now making great use of these facilities to discover better materials that benefit our society. Nevertheless, computation cannot stand alone.

In the present investigation, experimental techniques for handling extreme conditions such as low temperature, high sensitivity and strong magnetic field, are required to verify the predictions and make discoveries. These equipments and technologies are acquired and organised by the team members coherently.

The research is inspired by the KT phase theory discovered by V Berezinskii, J Michael Kosterlitz and David J Thouless, of which the latter two are laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 (together with F Duncan M Haldane) for their theoretical discoveries of topological phase, and phase transitions of matter. Topology is a new way of classifying and predicting the properties of materials, and now becoming the mainstream of quantum material research and industry, with broad potential applications in quantum computer, lossless transmission of signals for information technology, etc. Back to 1970s, Kosterlitz and Thouless had predicted the existence of topological phase, hence named after them as the KT phase in quantum magnetic materials. Although such phenomena have been found in superfluids and superconductors, KT phase has yet been realised in bulk magnetic material, and is eventually discovered in the present work.

To detect such interesting KT phase in a magnetic material is not easy, as usually the 3-dimensional coupling would render magnetic material to develop ordered phase but not topological phase at low temperature, and even if there exists a temperature window for the KT phase, highly sensitive measurement technique is required to be able to pick up the unique fluctuation pattern of the topological phase, and that is the reason why such phase has been enthusiastically perused, but its experimental discovery has defied many previous attempts. After some initial failures, the team member discovered that the NMR method under in-plane magnetic fields, do not disturb the low-energy electronic states as the in-plane moment in TMGO is mostly multipolar with little interference on magnetic field and intrinsic magnetic moments of the material, which consequently allows the intricated topological KT fluctuations in the phase to be detected sensitively.

As shown in Fig.1, NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate measurements indeed revealed a KT phase sandwiched between a paramagnetic phase at temperature T > T_u and an antiferromagnetic phase at temperature T

This finding indicates a stable phase (KT phase) of TMGO, which serves as a concrete example of topological state of matter in crystalline material, might have potential applications in future information technologies. With its unique properties of topological excitations and strong magnetic fluctuations, many interesting research and potential applications with topological quantum materials can be pursued from here.

Dr Meng said: "It will eventually bring benefits to the society, such that quantum computers, lossless transmission of signals for information technology, faster and more energy-saving high-speed trains, all these dreams could gradually come true from quantum material research."

"Our approach, combining the state-of-art experimental techniques with unbiased quantum many-body computation schemes, enables us to directly compare experimental data to accurate numerical results with key theoretical predictions quantitatively, providing a bridge way to connect theoretical, numerical and experimental studies, the new paradigm set up by the joint team will certainly lead to more profound and impactful discoveries in quantum materials." He added.

The supercomputers used in computations and simulations

The powerful supercomputers Tianhe-1 and Tianhe-2 in China used in the computations are among the world's fastest supercomputers and ranked No.1 in 2010 and 2014 respectively in the TOP500 list (https://www.top500.org/). Their next-generation Tianhe-3 is expected to be in usage in 2021 and will be world first exaFLOPS scale supercomputer. The quantum Monte Carlo and tensor network simulations performed by the joint team make use of the Tianhe supercomputers and requires the parallel simulations for thousands of hours on thousands of CPUs, it will take more than 20 years to finish if performed in common PC.

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Confirming simulated calculations with experiment results - Science Codex

Efforts to break encryption in new crypto wars are ongoing, but there are many successes to recount in the past year.

Speaking in the closing session thevirtual ISSE ConferenceProfessor Bart Preneel from the KU Leuven, where he heads the COSIC research group, said more and more research crypto hasbeen published this year and he praised the work to enable contact tracing, but was critical of government and law enforcements efforts around end-to-end (E2E) encryption.

Saying the crypto wars have come back again, something Im doomed to live with for the rest of my life, Preneel referred to the case in 1993 when AT&T introduced a secure phone with E2E-based on Triple DES, which the US government was not happy with as it stopped them intercepting phone calls, especially outside US. The clipper chip with key escrow project failed, and now the crypto wars have come back as cryptography has shifted from hardware to software.

He said there is a case for interception of those people communicating child abuse images, terrorist acts and kidnapping cases, and governments are unable to access encrypted communications, so the government has no access. Preneel also said some people use Facebook Messenger for those purposes, and it is possible at the moment as it is not E2E encrypted, but Facebook announced E2E for Messenger to stop that channel of access, and the stupid people will not be able to escape.

He said this proposal was met with criticism as most people are not happy with backdoors, and as a society, we can agree to filter for abuse messages and images, but it could also be used against the freedom of speech of people you dont like, and for political purposes.

It keeps coming in different forms and shapes, but the debate is essentially the same and the main complaint is police and intelligence services have lots of metadata, once they find one person they can use that infrastructure to find other people, once you have metadata you have access, he said. It is a one-sided debate as law enforcement does not show what they acquired in the last 20 years, so that is actually a debate that is happening, and it is difficult to debate with one side who doesnt disclose.

Among other cryptography highlights from 2020, Preneel cited the breaking of RSA 250, where the researchers found two prime factors. It is important as a large part of digital infrastructure relies on RSA, he said. It was amazing as they used so little power, and more effort and money was put in.

Speaking on quantum computing, he said despite Google, Intel and Microsoft building and spending in quantum computing research, there were no big examples of successes this year, even by companies spending small fortunes. He said in order to break RSA 2048 you will need something like 20 million qbits, and most companies were very far from that, so he predicted that we will be safe until 2035.

With regards to contact tracing, Preneel welcomed the work done to create apps that anonymized user details, and using decentralized proximity tracing (DP3T), he said there had been 57 million downloads of DP3T-based apps across 18 EU countries and Switzerland. He said: There arestill problems in integration in some national health systems, but it is a solution that seems to work. There are clear indications it works and people are being warned and it is cost effective. The solution was security and privacy friendly.

Link:
#ISSE2020: Focus on 2020's Crypto Successes Rather than Efforts to Break it - Infosecurity Magazine

At the recently concluded Philippine Digital Convention (PH Digicon 2020) by PLDT Enterprise, Kazuhiro Gomi, president and CEO, NTT Research, shared the fundamental research milestones coming out of its three labs: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab, that are hoped to lead to monumental tech innovations.

The three-day virtual convention drew in more than 3,000 views during the live stream broadcast of the plenary sessions and breakout sessions covering various topics.

Gomi headlined the second day with his topic Upgrading Reality, a glimpse into breakthrough research that NTT Research is currently working on that could hasten digital transformations.

PLDT sets up Data Privacy and Information Security Committee

PLDT Home broadband service expands 46% nationwide

In a discussion with Cathy Yap-Yang, FVP and head Corporate Communications, PLDT, Gomi elaborated on next-generation technologies, particularly the Bio Digital Twin project, that could potentially be game-changing in the medical field, quantum computing, and advanced cryptography.

Bido Digital Twin

The Bio Digital Twin is an initiative where a digital replica of a patients internal system functions first as a model for possible testing of procedures and chemical reactions and seeing possible results before actual application to the person.

We are trying to create an electronic replica of the human body. If we are able to create something like that, the future of clinical and medical activities will be very different, Gomi said. If we have a precise replica of your human body, you can predict what type of disease or what type of problem you might have maybe three years down the road. Or, if your doctor needs to test a new drug for you, he can do so onto the digital twin.

NTT Research is a fundamental research organization in Silicon Valley that carries out advanced research for some of the worlds most important and impactful technologies, including quantum computing, cryptography, information security, and medical and health informatics.

Computing power

However, to get there and make the Bio Digital Twin possible, there are hurdles from various disciplines, including the component of computing power.

Gomi explained that people believed that todays computers can do everything, but in reality, it might actually take years to solve complex problems, whereas a quantum computer could solve these problems in seconds.

There are different kinds of quantum computers, but all are based upon quantum physics. At NTT Research, Gomi revealed that their group is working on a quantum computer called a coherent Ising machine which could solve combinatorial optimization problems.

We may be able to bring those superfast machines to market, to reality, much quicker. That is what we are aiming for, he said.

Basically, the machine, using many parameters and complex optimization, finds the best solution in a matter of seconds which may take months or years using conventional computers.

Some examples where quantum computing may be applied include lead optimization problems such as effects on small molecule drugs, peptide drugs, and Biocatalyst, or resource optimization challenges such as logistics, traffic control, or using wireless networks. Gomi also expounded on compressed sensing cases, including use in astronomical telescopes, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography.

Quantum computing

Apart from quantum computing, Gomi reiterated the issues of cybersecurity and privacy. Today, encryption is able to address those challenges but it would soon require a more advanced and sophisticated type of technology if we are to upgrade reality.

From the connected world, obviously we want to exchange more data among each other, but we have to make sure that security and privacy are maintained. We have to have those things together to get the best out of a connected world, he said.

Among next-generation advanced encryptions, Gomi highlighted Attribute-Based Encryption where various decryption keys define access control of the encrypted data. For example, depending on the user (or the type of key he/she has) what they are allowed to view is different or controlled by the key issuers.

He noted that in the next couple of years, we should be able to commercialize this type of technology. We can maintain privacy while encouraging the sharing of data with this mechanism.

Gomi reiterated that we are at the stage of all kinds of digital transformations.

Digital transformation

Those digital transformations are making our lives so much richer and business so much more interesting and efficient. I would imagine those digital transformations will continue to advance even more, he said.

However, there are limiting factors that could impede or slow down those digital transformations such as energy consumption, Moores law of limitation as we cannot expect too much of the capacities of the electronic chips from current computers, and the issues on privacy and security. Hence, we need to address those factors.

PH Digicon 2020 is the annual convention organized by PLDT Enterprise which gathered global industry leaders to speak on the latest advancements in the digital landscape. This years roster of speakers included tech experts and heads from Cisco, Nokia, Salesforce, NTT Research, and goop CEO and multi-awarded Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow who headlined the first virtual run.

Related

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NTTs Kazuhiro Gomi says Bio Digital Twin, quantum computing the next-gen tech - Backend News

Supermarket aisles filled with fresh produce are probably not where you would expect to discover some of the first benefits of quantum computing.

But Canadian grocery chain Save-On-Foods has become an unlikely pioneer, using quantum technology to improve the management of in-store logistics. In collaboration with quantum computing company D-Wave, Save-On-Foods is using a new type of computing, which is based on the downright weird behaviour of matter at the quantum level. And it's already seeing promising results.

The company's engineers approached D-Wave with a logistics problem that classical computers were incapable of solving. Within two months, the concept had translated into a hybrid quantum algorithm that was running in one of the supermarket stores, reducing the computing time for some tasks from 25 hours per week down to mere seconds.

SEE: Guide to Becoming a Digital Transformation Champion (TechRepublic Premium)

Save-On-Foods is now looking at expanding the technology to other stores, and exploring new ways that quantum could help with other issues. "We now have the capability to run tests and simulations by adjusting variables and see the results, so we can optimize performance, which simply isn't feasible using traditional methods," a Save-On-Foods spokesperson tells ZDNet.

"While the results are outstanding, the two most important things from this are that we were able to use quantum computing to attack our most complex problems across the organization, and can do it on an ongoing basis."

The remarkable properties of quantum computing boil down to the behaviour of qubits -- the quantum equivalent of classical bits that encode information for today's computers in strings of 0s and 1s. But contrary to bits, which can be represented by either 0 or 1, qubits can take on a state that is quantum-specific, in which they exist as 0 and 1 in parallel, or superposition.

Qubits, therefore, enable quantum algorithms to run various calculations at the same time, and at exponential scale: the more qubits, the more variables can be explored, and all in parallel. Some of the largest problems, which would take classical computers tens of thousands of years to explore with single-state bits, could be harnessed by qubits in minutes.

The challenge lies in building quantum computers that contain enough qubits for useful calculations to be carried out. Qubits are temperamental: they are error-prone, hard to control, and always on the verge of falling out of their quantum state. Typically, scientists have to encase quantum computers in extremely cold, large-scale refrigerators, just to make sure that qubits remain stable. That's impractical, to say the least.

This is, in essence, why quantum computing is still in its infancy. Most quantum computers currently work with less than 100 qubits, and tech giants such as IBM and Google are racing to increase that number in order to build a meaningful quantum computer as early as possible. Recently, IBM ambitiously unveiled a roadmap to a million-qubit system, and said that it expects a fault-tolerant quantum computer to be an achievable goal during the next ten years.

IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna and director of research Dario Gil in front of a ten-foot-tall super-fridge for the company's next-generation quantum computers.

Although it's early days for quantum computing, there is still plenty of interest from businesses willing to experiment with what could prove to be a significant development. "Multiple companies are conducting learning experiments to help quantum computing move from the experimentation phase to commercial use at scale," Ivan Ostojic, partner at consultant McKinsey, tells ZDNet.

Certainly tech companies are racing to be seen as early leaders. IBM's Q Network started running in 2016 to provide developers and industry professionals with access to the company's quantum processors, the latest of which, a 65-qubit device called Hummingbird, was released on the platform last month. Recently, US multinational Honeywell took its first steps on the quantum stage, making the company's trapped-ion quantum computer available to customers over the cloud. Rigetti Computing, which has been operating since 2017, is also providing cloud-based access to a 31-qubit quantum computer.

Another approach, called quantum annealing, is especially suitable for optimisation tasks such as the logistics problems faced by Save-On-Foods. D-Wave has proven a popular choice in this field, and has offered a quantum annealer over the cloud since 2010, which it has now upgraded to a 5,000-qubit-strong processor.

A quantum annealing processor is much easier to control and operate than the devices that IBM, Honeywell and Rigetti are working on, which are called gate-model quantum computers. This is why D-Wave's team has already hit much higher numbers of qubits. However, quantum annealing is only suited to specific optimisation problems, and experts argue that the technology will be comparatively limited when gate-model quantum computers reach maturity.

The suppliers of quantum processing power are increasingly surrounded by third-party companies that act as intermediaries with customers. Zapata, QC Ware or 1QBit, for example, provide tools ranging from software stacks to training, to help business leaders get started with quantum experiments.

SEE: What is the quantum internet? Everything you need to know about the weird future of quantum networks

In other words, the quantum ecosystem is buzzing with activity, and is growing fast. "Companies in the industries where quantum will have the greatest potential for complete disruption should get involved in quantum right now," says Ostojic.

And the exponential compute power of quantum technologies, according to the analyst, will be a game-changer in many fields. Qubits, with their unprecedented ability to solve optimisation problems, will benefit any organisation with a supply chain and distribution route, while shaking up the finance industry by maximising gains from portfolios. Quantum-infused artificial intelligence also holds huge promise, with models expected to benefit from better training on bigger datasets.

One example: by simulating molecular interactions that are too complex for classical computers to handle, qubits will let biotech companies fast-track the discovery of new drugs and materials. Microsoft, for example, has already demonstrated how quantum computers can help manufacture fertilizers with better yields. This could have huge implications for the agricultural sector, as it faces the colossal task of sustainably feeding the growing global population in years to come.

Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking and cybersecurity are often cited as sectors that quantum technology could significantly transform. "In principle, quantum will be relevant for all CIOs as it will accelerate solutions to a large range of problems," says Ostojic. "Those companies need to become owners of quantum capability."

Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking or cybersecurity are among the industries that are often pointed to as examples of the fields that quantum technology could transform.

There is a caveat. No CIO should expect to achieve too much short-term value from quantum computing in its current form. However fast-growing the quantum industry is, the field remains defined by the stubborn instability of qubits, which still significantly limits the capability of quantum computers.

"Right now, there is no problem that a quantum computer can solve faster than a classical computer, which is of value to a CIO," insists Heike Riel, head of science and technology at IBM Research Quantum Europe. "But you have to be very careful, because the technology is evolving fast. Suddenly, there might be enough qubits to solve a problem that is of high value to a business with a quantum computer."

And when that day comes, there will be a divide between the companies that prepared for quantum compute power, and those that did not. This is what's at stake for business leaders who are already playing around with quantum, explains Riel. Although no CIO expects quantum to deliver value for the next five to ten years, the most forward-thinking businesses are already anticipating the wave of innovation that the technology will bring about eventually -- so that when it does, they will be the first to benefit from it.

This means planning staffing, skills and projects, and building an understanding of how quantum computing can help solve actual business problems. "This is where a lot of work is going on in different industries, to figure out what the true problems are, which can be solved with a quantum computer and not a classical computer, and which would make a big difference in terms of value," says Riel.

Riel points to the example of quantum simulation for battery development, which companies like car manufacturer Daimler are investigating in partnership with IBM. To increase the capacity and speed-of-charging of batteries for electric vehicles, Daimler's researchers are working on next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries, which require the alignment of various compounds in the most stable configuration possible. To find the best placement of molecules, all the possible interactions between the particles that make up the compound's molecules must be simulated.

This task can be carried out by current supercomputers for simple molecules, but a large-scale quantum solution could one day break new ground in developing the more complex compounds that are required for better batteries.

"Of course, right now the molecules we are simulating with quantum are small in size because of the limited size of the quantum computer," says Riel. "But when we scale the next generation of quantum computers, then we can solve the problem despite the complexity of the molecules."

SEE: 10 tech predictions that could mean huge changes ahead

Similar thinking led oil and gas giant ExxonMobilto join the network of companies that are currently using IBM's cloud-based quantum processors. ExxonMobil started collaborating with IBM in 2019, with the objective of one day using quantum to design new chemicals for low energy processing and carbon capture.

The company's director of corporate strategic research Amy Herhold explains that for the past year, ExxonMobil's scientists have been tapping IBM's quantum capabilities to simulate macroscopic material properties such as heat capacity. The team has focused so far on the smallest of molecules, hydrogen gas, and is now working on ways to scale the method up to larger molecules as the hardware evolves.

A number of milestones still need to be achieved before quantum computing translates into an observable business impact, according to Herhold. Companies will need to have access to much larger quantum computers with low error rates, as well as to appropriate quantum algorithms that address key problems.

"While today's quantum computers cannot solve business-relevant problems -- they are too small and the qubits are too noisy -- the field is rapidly advancing," Herhold tells ZDNet. "We know that research and development is critical on both the hardware and the algorithm front, and given how different this is from classical computing, we knew it would take time to build up our internal capabilities. This is why we decided to get going."

Herhold anticipates that quantum hardware will grow at a fast pace in the next five years. The message is clear: when it does, ExxonMobil's research team will be ready.

One industry that has shown an eager interest in quantum technology is the financial sector. From JP Morgan Chase's partnerships with IBM and Honeywell, to BBVA's use of Zapata's services, banks are actively exploring the potential of qubits, and with good reason. Quantum computers, by accounting for exponentially high numbers of factors and variables, could generate much better predictions of financial risk and uncertainty, and boost the efficiency of key operations such as investment portfolio optimisation or options pricing.

Similar to other fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for the financial industry. In fact, when solving smaller problems, scientists still run quantum algorithms alongside classical computers to validate the results.

"The classical simulator has an exact answer, so you can check if you're getting this exact answer with the quantum computer," explains Tony Uttley, president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions, as he describes the process of quantum options pricing in finance.

"And you better be, because as soon as we cross that boundary, where we won't be able to classically simulate anymore, you better be convinced that your quantum computer is giving you the right answer. Because that's what you'll be taking into your business processes."

Companies that are currently working on quantum solutions are focusing on what Uttley calls the "path to value creation". In other words, they are using quantum capabilities as they stand to run small-scale problems, building trust in the technology as they do so, while they wait for capabilities to grow and enable bigger problems to be solved.

In many fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for quantum computing in industry.

Tempting as it might be for CIOs to hope for short-term value from quantum services, it's much more realistic to look at longer timescales, maintains Uttley. "Imagine you have a hammer, and somebody tells you they want to build a university campus with it," he says. "Well, looking at your hammer, you should ask yourself how long it's going to take to build that."

Quantum computing holds the promise that the hammer might, in the next few years, evolve into a drill and then a tower crane. The challenge, for CIOs, is to plan now for the time that the tools at their disposal get the dramatic boost that's expected by scientists and industry players alike.

It is hard to tell exactly when that boost will come. IBM's roadmap announces that the company will reach 1,000 qubits in 2023, which could mark the start of early value creation in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, thanks to the simulation of small molecules. But although the exact timeline is uncertain, Uttley is adamant that it's never too early to get involved.

"Companies that are forward-leaning already have teams focused on this and preparing their organisations to take advantage of it once we cross the threshold to value creation," he says. "So what I tend to say is: engage now. The capacity is scarce, and if you're not already at the front of the line, it may be quite a while before you get in."

Creating business value is a priority for every CIO. At the same time, the barrier to entry for quantum computing is lowering every time a new startup emerges to simplify the software infrastructure and assist non-experts in kickstarting their use of the technology. So there's no time to lose in embracing the technology. Securing a first-class spot in the quantum revolution, when it comes, is likely to be worth it.

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Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything - ZDNet

Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair and quantum technology manager Dr Martin Fuechsle

Quantum computing will revolutionise the world; its potential is so immeasurable that the greatest minds in Redmond, Armonk, and Silicon Valley are spending big on quantum development. But a company by the name of Archer Materials wants to put Sydney, Australia, on the map alongside, if not ahead, of these tech giants.

Universal quantum computers leverage the quantum mechanical phenomena of superposition and entanglement to create states that scale exponentially with the number of quantum bits (qubits).

Here's an explanation: What is quantum computing? Understanding the how, why and when of quantum computers

"Quantum computing represents the next generation of powerful computing, you don't really have to know how your phone works on the inside, you just want it to do things that you couldn't do before," Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair told ZDNet.

"And with quantum computing, you can do things that you couldn't necessarily do before."

There is currently a very small set number of tasks that a quantum computer can do, but Choucair is hopeful that in the future this will grow to be a little bit more consumer-based and business-faced.

Right now, however, quantum computing, for all intents and purposes, is at a very early stage. It's not going to completely displace a classical computer, but it will give the capacity to do more with what we currently have. Choucair believes this will positively impact a range of sectors that are reliant on an increasing amount of computational power.

"This comes to light when you start to want to optimise very large portfolios, or perform a whole bunch of data crunching, AI and all sorts of buzzwords -- but ultimately, you're looking for more computational power. And you can genuinely get speed-ups in computational power based on certain algorithms for certain problems that are currently being identified," he explained.

"The problems that quantum computers can solve are currently being identified and the end users are being engaged."

Archer describes itself as a materials technology company. Its proposition is simple at heart: "Materials are the tangible physical basis of all technology. We're developing and integrating materials to address complex global challenges in quantum technology, human health, and reliable energy".

There are many components to quantum computing, but Archer is building a qubit processor. 12CQ is touted by the company as a "world-first technology that Archer aims to build for quantum computing operation at room-temperature and integration onboard modern electronic devices".

"We're not building the entire computer, we're building the chipset, the processer at the core of it," Choucair told ZDNet. "That really forms the brain of a quantum computer.

"The difference with us is that we really are looking at on-board use, rather than the heavy infrastructure that's required to house the existing quantum computing architectures.

"This is not all airy-fairy and it is not all of blue sky; it's real, there's proven potential, we've published the workwe have the data, we have the science behind us -- it took seven years of immense, immersive R&D."

Archer is building the chip inside a AU$180 million prototype foundry out of the University of Sydney. The funding was provided by the university as well as government.

"Everyone's playing their role to get this to market," he said.

Choucair is convinced that the potential when Archer "gets this right" will be phenomenal.

"Once you get a minimal viable product, and you can demonstrate the technology can indeed work at room temperature and be integrated into modern-day electronics. I think that's, that's quite disruptive. And it's quite exciting," he said.

Magnified region observing the round qubit clusters which are billionths of a meter in size in the centre of qubit control device components (appearing as parallel lines).

Choucair found himself at Archer in 2017 after the company acquired a startup he founded. Straight away, he and the board got started on the strategy it's currently executing on.

"There is very, very small margin for error from the start, in the middle, at the end -- you need to know what you're getting yourself into, what you're doingthis is why I think we've been able to be so successful moving forward, we've been so rapid in our development, because we know exactly what needs to get done," Choucair said.

"The chip is a world firstscience can fail at any stage, everybody knows that, but more often than not, it may or may not -- how uncertain do you want something to be? So for us, the more and more we develop our chip, the higher chances of success become."

Read more about Archer's commercial strategy here: Archer looks to commercialisation future with graphene-based biosensor tech

Choucair said materials technology itself was able to reduce a lot of the commercial barriers to entry for Archer, which meant the company could take the work out of the university much sooner.

"The material technology allowed us to do things without the need for heavy cooling infrastructure, which costs millions and millions of dollars and had to be housed in buildings that cost millions and millions of dollars,' he explained. "Massive barrier reduced, material could be made simply from common laboratory agents, which means you didn't have to build a billion-dollar facility to control atoms and do all these crazy scientific things at the atomic level.

"And so, really, you end up with the materials technology that was simple to handle, easy to make, and worked at room temperature, and you're like, wow, okay, so now the job for us is to actually build the chip and miniaturise this stuff, which is challenging in itself."

The CEO of the unexplainable has an impressive resum. He landed at Archer with a strong technical background in nanotechnology, served a two-year mandate on the World Economic Forum Global Council for Advanced Materials, is a fellow of both The Royal Society of New South Wales and The Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and was an academic and research fellow at the University of Sydney's School of Chemistry.

Choucair also has in his armoury Dr Martin Fuechsle, who is recognised for developing the world's smallest transistor, a "single-atom transistor".

"Fuechsle is among the few highly talented physicists in the world capable of building quantum devices that push the boundaries of current information processing technology," Choucair said in January 2019, announcing Fuechsle's appointment. "His skills, experience, and exceptional track record strongly align to Archer's requirements for developing our key vertical of quantum technology."

SEE:Guide to Becoming a Digital Transformation Champion(TechRepublic Premium)

Archer is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, but Choucair would reject any claims of it being a crazy proposition.

"20 years ago, a company that was maybe offering something as abstract as an online financial payment system would have been insane too, but if you have a look at the top 10 companies on the Nasdaqa lot of their core business is embedded in the development of computational architecture, computational hardware," he said.

"We're a very small company, I'm not comparing myself to a Nasdaq-listed company. I'm just saying, the core businessI think it's a unique offering and differentiates us on a stock exchange."

He said quantum technology is something that people are starting to value and see as having potential and scale of opportunity.

Unlike many of the other quantum players in Australia and abroad, Archer is not a result of a spin-off from a university, Choucair claimed.

"The one thing about Archer is that we're not a university spin out -- I think that's what sets us apart, not just in Australia, but globally," he said. "A lot of the time, the quantum is at a university, this is where you go to learn about quantum computing, so it's only natural that it does come out of a university."

Historically, Australia has a reputation of being bad at commercialising research and development. But our curriculum vitae speaks for itself: Spray-on skin, the black box flight recorder, polymer bank notes, and the Cochlear implant, to name a few.

According to Choucair, quantum is next.

"We really are leading the world; we well and truly punch above our weight when it comes to the work that's been done, we lead the world," he said.

"And that quantum technology is across quantum computing and photonics, and sensing -- it's not just quantum computing. We do have a lot of great scientists and those who are developing the technology."

But as highlighted in May by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in its quantum technologies roadmap, there are a lot of gaps that need to be filled over the long term.

"We just have to go out there and get the job done," Choucair said.

"In Australia we have resource constraints, just like anywhere else in the world. And I think there's always a lot more that can be donewe're not doing deep tech as a luxury in this country. From the very top down, there is an understanding, I believe, from our government and from key institutes in the nation that this is what will help us drive forward as a nation."

Archer isn't the only group focused on the promise of quantum tech down under, but Choucair said there's no animosity within the Aussie ecosystem.

Read about UNSW's efforts: Australia's ambitious plan to win the quantum race

There's also a partnership between two universities: UNSW and Sydney Uni quantum partnership already bearing fruit

"I think we all understand that there's a greater mission at stake here. And we all want, I can't speak on everyone's behalf, but at Archer we definitely have vision of making quantum computing widespread -- adopted by consumers and businesses, that's something that we really want to do," he said.

"We have fantastic support here in Australia, there's no doubt about it."

A lot of the work in the quantum space is around education, as Choucair said, it's not something that just comes out of abstractness and then just exists.

"You have to remember this stuff's all been built off 20, 30, 40 years of research and development, quantum mechanics, engineering, science, and tech -- hundreds and thousands of brilliant minds over the course of two-three generations," the CEO explained.

While the technology is here, and people are building algorithms that only run on quantum computers, there is still another 20-or-so years of development to follow.

"This field is not a fast follower field, you don't just get up in the morning and put your slippers on and say you're going to build a quantum computer," he added.

Archer is also part of the IBM Q Network, which is a global network of startups, Fortune 500 companies, and academic research institutes that have access to IBM's experts, developer tools, and cloud-based quantum systems through IBM Q Cloud.

Archer joined the network in May as the first Australian company that's developing a qubit processor.

Choucair said the work cannot be done without partnerships and collaboration alongside the best in the world.

"Yes, there is a race to build quantum computers, but I think more broadly than a race, to just enable the widespread adoption of the technology. And that's not easy. And that takes a concerted effort," he said. "And at this early stage of development, there is a lot of overlap and collaboration.

"There's a bit of a subculture that Australia can't do it -- yeah, we can.

"There's no excuses, right? We're doing it, we're building it, we're getting there. We're working with the very best in the world."

Read more here:
Australia's Archer and its plan for quantum world domination - ZDNet