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Quantum computing can soon address many of the worlds toughest, most urgent problems.

Thats why the semiconductor legislation Congress just passed is part of a $280 billion package that will, among other things, direct federal research dollars toward quantum computing.

Quantum computing will soon be able to:

The economy and the environment are clearly two top federal government agenda items.Congress in July was poised to pass the most ambitious climate bill in U.S. history. The New York Times said that the bill would pump hundreds of billions of dollars into low-carbon energy technologies like wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles and would put the United States on track to slash its greenhouse gas emissions to roughly 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. This could help to further advance and accelerate the adoption of quantum computing.

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Because quantum technology can solve many previously unsolvable problems, a long list of the worlds leading businesses including BMW and Volkswagen, FedEx, Mastercard and Wells Fargo, and Merck and Roche are making significant quantum investments. These businesses understand that transformation via quantum computing, which is quickly advancing with breakthrough technologies, is coming soon. They want to be ready when that happens.

Its wise for businesses to invest in quantum computing because the risk is low and the payoff is going to be huge. As BCG notes: No one can afford to sit on the sidelines as this transformative technology accelerates toward several critical milestones.

The reality is that quantum computing is coming, and its likely not going to be a standalone technology. It will be tied to the rest of the IT infrastructure supercomputers, CPUs and GPUs.

This is why companies like Hewlett Packard Enterprise are thinking about how to integrate quantum computing into the fabric of the IT infrastructure. Its also why Terra Quantum AG is building hybrid data centers that combine the power of quantum and classical computing.

Amid these changes, employees should start now to get prepared. There is going to be a tidal wave of need for both quantum Ph.D.s and for other talent such as skilled quantum software developers to contribute to quantum efforts.

Earning a doctorate in a field relevant to quantum computing requires a multi-year commitment. But obtaining valuable quantum computing skills doesnt require a developer to go back to college, take out a student loan or spend years studying.

With modern tools that abstract the complexity of quantum software and circuit creation, developers no longer require Ph.D.-level knowledge to contribute to the quantum revolution, enabling a more diverse workforce to help businesses achieve quantum advantage. Just look at the winners in the coding competition that my company staged. Some of these winners were recent high school graduates, and they delivered highly innovative solutions.

Leading the software stack, quantum algorithm design platforms allow developers to design sophisticated quantum circuits that could not be created otherwise. Rather than defining tedious low-level gate connections, this approach uses high-level functional models and automatically searches millions of circuit configurations to find an implementation that fits resource considerations, designer-supplied constraints and the target hardware platform. New tools like Nvidias QODA also empower developers by making quantum programming similar to how classical programming is done.

Developers will want to familiarize themselves with quantum computing, whichwill be an integral arrow in their metaphorical quiver of engineering skills. People who add quantum skills to their classical programming and data center skills will position themselves to make more money and be more appealing to employers in the long term.

Many companies and countries are experimenting with and adopting quantum computing. They understand that quantum computing is evolving rapidly and is the way of the future.

Whether you are a business leader or a developer, its important to understand that quantum computing is moving forward. The train is leaving the station will you be on board?

Erik Garcell is technical marketing manager at Classiq.

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The world, and todays employees, need quantum computing more than ever - VentureBeat

John Prisco, President and CEO of Safe Quantum, a quantum security consulting firm is interviewed by Yuval Boger. John and Yuval talk about the maturity of PQC, QKD, quantum networks, and their timing overlap, national and international testbeds for quantum security, successful case studies and more.

Yuval Boger: Hello John, and thanks for joining me today.

John Prisco: Hello, how are you?

Yuval: Im doing well. Who are you and what do you do?

John: Well, Im John Prisco, and I am the president of Safe Quantum and I consult in the areas of quantum key distribution and quantum internet.

Yuval: There have been a lot of buzzwords floating around: post-quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution, and the quantum internet. Could you make some sense for me in these?

John: Yes, I think were in a very early stage in a number of areas that would be based on quantum. Obviously, quantum computers are just at the beginning of development, and they dont have very many qubits yet, but eventually, they will. And when they do, then well have something to worry about with having our encryption schemes broken that we depend on today. However, the work thats being done at NIST to develop post-quantum cryptographic algorithms will become quantum resistant. The hope is that these mathematically based algorithms will prevent quantum computers or at least slow them down in terms of being able to decrypt secret information.

On the other side of the equation is quantum key distribution, which doesnt depend on arithmetic or mathematical rigor. It is relying on quantum mechanics and physics principles. Its a very interesting technique, it uses keys that are made of individual photons of light, and because of the various quantum mechanical properties, youre not really able to even observe these keys without changing their state. Once the state has changed, the key no longer works, it no longer unlocks the secret information and therefore provides the protection that one would want when transmitting very secure and sensitive information.

Yuval: If Im an enterprise and I hear about post-quantum cryptography as an interim step, and then quantum key distribution is something that could be a little bit better and maybe about the quantum internet is the best thing, is it feasible for me to jump right to the best thing?

John: Well, unfortunately, its not at the moment, and thats because theres a lot of work to be done, actually, in all three areas. Jumping ahead to the quantum internet is probably a misnomer. We should probably first talk about a quantum network, which is not as far-reaching as the internet. And there are a number of test beds around the world that are today working in this area. And at this point, these systems are relying on creating quantum repeaters and using quantum memory. But at this point of development, the repeaters are repeating one photon of information. So when you consider gigabit per second type transmission rates, theres a long way to go before we could have a complete quantum internet.

But there are many advances going forward throughout the world on quantum networking. And one in particular that I follow closely because its right here in the United States, is a company called Qunnect. And what I find interesting about them is that theyre attempting to build quantum network, the basis for quantum internet, using room temperature apparatus. Which is terrific because when you try to commercialize something, its very difficult to commercialize a product that has a dilution refrigerator, which is a room full of refrigeration equipment to get superconducting properties out of quantum setup in milli-Kelvins of temperatures. When you have high vacuums, and very low temperatures, you have a long way to commercialization, so I like following companies that are trying to do things at room temperature because I think we get there sooner with that kind of approach.

Yuval: If we start from post-quantum cryptography, I understand that NIST has announced for finalists or candidates for standards, but some of them have already been cracked. How is that process going, and what do you anticipate will happen with it?

John: Well, its a long-term process. It started six years ago, and I think it started with something like 88 algorithms that were presented. NIST has been diligently working on looking at the veracity of each one of these algorithms, and theyd come up with four finalists. In addition to the four, there were others in the finalist category, and one of them was hacked a couple of months ago, I think in March. And then, more recently, another had been broken. But thats all part of the process working. It is open to the public so that people will try to, in some way, bypass the protections that the algorithm offers.

And when you look at an arithmetic approach, which is all of post-quantum cryptography, you have to understand that these algorithms will have a shelf life, just like the RSA algorithms are coming to the end of their useful shelf life. Well, post quantum cryptography may have a 30-plus year shelf life, but eventually, it will be cracked by something. So its very important to understand that that approach is a quantum-resistant approach. Im probably more in line with the QKD basing its protections on laws of physics, but I think you need both of them. I think its important to have a defense in-depth strategy, and I think its important to have two totally different approaches so that if one fails, its not likely the other will have the same failure mechanism and therefore, youd have more survivability.

But I do think post-quantum cryptography is going to require crypto agility just for the reasons we mentioned, you may be heading down the road with a finalist candidate algorithm, and then something happens where a mathematician comes up with an algorithm that defeats that approach. Well, you have to be able to turn on a dime and adopt one of the other algorithms that are in their golf bag, so to speak.

Yuval: I think quantum key distribution uses a side channel to transfer decryption or encryption keys to both parties outside the main channel. And I believe that a previous company that you were involved with did QKD as a service. If I understand QKD, what does as a service mean in that context?

John: Well, it means that you are providing a transmission pathway for a customer to secure data in motion. And that could be between two of the customer premises locations. It could be from a customer to the cloud. And when you say as a service, it means that you secure the fiber rights of way between points A and point B. You install the hardware, which is producing the keys and sharing the keys. And its a complete service, if there is maintenance required, you provide that as well.

And one of the most important things about this approach is that you can separate the encryption key from the data. Today we make it awfully easy for people to harvest information and the key thats used to encrypt that information. And even though they may not be able to break that key today, they can simply and inexpensively store the data and the key. And then in the future, when they have the means to break that key, like with a more powerful quantum computer then we currently have, now suddenly all that secure, sensitive information is subject to being read in plain text.

There are an awful lot of things to consider. The time it takes to convert from a classical encryption approach to a quantum encryption approach is measured in decades. The last time there was a conversion like this, it took over 20 years for companies to completely convert to the RSA algorithms. Its probably going to take more like 20 to 30 years this time around because we have so much more data that were storing and transmitting. What was happening in the seventies is much, much smaller than whats happening in the 2020s. This is not going to be an overnight plug-and-play kind of project, its going to take a long time. And you have to constantly be watching to see, are nefarious actors able to crack the new algorithms, and will our sensitive information soon be read by enemies?

Yuval: So its not a three-stage rocket where first you have PQC and then you move to the second stage with key distribution and then maybe to a quantum network, these are overlapping stages, if I understand correctly?

John: They are, and I think you know, have QKD today, which is probably the best approach to preventing harvesting attacks, because its available today, and it will give you the quantum mechanical security that boasts. PQC is probably two years away from being standardized for the first few algorithms. And then of course that conversion to PQC, which is an enormous task, will probably take at least 20 years.

But the quantum internet is going to require a fair amount of development. Today what we do is we entangle photons and then we try to swap that entanglement in a quantum repeater or quantum memory. And as I mentioned before, each photon is transmitted individually, and it has one bit of information, a one or a zero, could be polarization, could be phase whatever, but one and a zero. Now youre talking about having billions and billions of photons in order to complete a simple telecommunications transaction. And the hardware and infrastructure has to be put in place for this. But fortunately, we do have test beds springing up all around the world, and breakthroughs are being made on a fairly monthly basis. So well get there, but it will probably be on the order of 20 to 25 years before any substantial networks for substantial distances with substantial data rates will be prevalent.

Yuval: Youve probably consulted with a lot of companies and looked at many others, are there any examples that you could give of someone that you felt was doing a good job in preparing for this next type of risk?

John: Yes, in fact, Ive had the pleasure of working with a number of companies, JPMorgan Chase, for one. And what I really think they did right is that they hired quantum experts, their quantum business is run by a fellow named Marco Pistoia, came out of IBM and hes a friend of mine, and I always tell him that hes a quantum rockstar, and he is. We did a project when I was consulting for Toshiba that was based on securing a blockchain application. I think if you generalize this to companies and what they might do, I think its important to have people who understand what quantum is, what quantum science information technology is all about.

And then you have to start doing some proof of concept tests. Ive done a number of QKD proof of concepts. One of my first ones was, again, working with Toshiba and we did a Verizon 5G network security. This is all public, there have been press releases on both the companies Ive just mentioned. But thats really what you have to do, you have to get started, you have to make an investment. And theres an equal investment to understanding the PQC algorithms. And the first thing you have to do is take an inventory of your data, what data? Whats the shelf life of the data? Whats the sensitivity of the data? And you have to work from the most sensitive and longest shelf life to the least sensitive and the shortest shelf life. But just knowing that is going to take a long time in a large corporation. So getting started now is important.

The federal government is a totally different situation because the information is always very sensitive. And when you look at some of the executive orders that came out last month about when government agencies should be converted to quantum encryption, they were talking about 2032 to 2035. Now, what worries me about that is the harvesting attacks, thats going to be 10 to 13 years of people sniffing cables. Even the submariner cables crossing the ocean have been tapped. Its very difficult to know when youre tapping an optical fiber because you just simply bend it, and the light leaks out of the core and then you detect that light. The thing is that with conventional classical telecommunications, when you detect that light, you also get all the information thats being sent over that fiber. So you can imagine an optical fiber carrying tremendous amounts of data and all of it being recorded inexpensively and kept somewhere. And then eventually, when you can break that encryption, now all of these very sensitive bits of data are revealed.

I dont think we have as much time as people think that, Well, we can do this over 20 years, 25 years. Sure, it may take that long, but I think you have to take measures before that, especially if your information is a long shelf life and is extremely sensitive. And QKD actually is the only thing that can really protect you at the moment.

Yuval: You mentioned governments and security is obviously not just a corporate issue but also a national issue. Which countries, in your opinion, are ahead in quantum security? And which countries are perhaps behind?

John: Well, I think that the United States has caught up with China. We do some things better than they do. They do other things better than we do. But in terms of quantum computing, I think the US leads. I actually think that some of the QKD implementations in China lead the US. But theres a lot going on in Europe as well. Theres British Telecom thats now doing a metro scale network using Toshiba QKD and thats a very large project and very interesting in terms of seeing a large telecommunications company make that bet. The Netherlands is, and the group at Delft is doing a wonderful job on quantum networking, and theyre just a lot of things going on like Barcelona, Germany, theyre all doing a lot in the field of quantum networking,.

But this is going to be a public-private partnership in the United States, just like the moon launch was in the sixties. And thats the way to really win this race. And people, a few years ago, started to have that Sputnik moment where they said, Wow, look at Chinas just invested 10 billion in quantum. We better do something about that. And I think we have, and I think in fact that the NSF has been funding universities and a lot of basic research as well as the venture community funding startup companies. I think that combination is a winning combination. It won once before during the sixties and the Space Race, and I think itll win again.

Yuval: As we get close to the end of our conversation today, you mentioned a couple of test beds in Europe, I think in the US, I think theres a big one in Chicago. Are there others that people could get involved with or should pay attention to?

John: Well, theres Chicago Quantum Exchange, thats the one that you are referencing. And of course, that has Department of Energy laboratories working along with very fine universities and terrific researchers. Recently, NIST announced that theyre going to build a DCQ Network, a quantum network that will initially deploy quantum networking on the NIST campus, but then will bring to bear several other agencies like NASA, NSA, CIA. That will be an interesting one to watch. And there is all sorts of rumors about a network coming into Boston and another one coming into New York, and probably another on the West Coast. But none of that has really been publicly announced yet, so well see which ones of those occur. But I think its really important that we have these partnerships, test beds, that have universities involved and that have venture capital involved and government involved. Government is looking for the private sector to come with ideas. Many of these companies have been working on networking for a couple of years, three years, and they can bring to bear a lot of experience.

Yuval: Excellent, John, how can people get in touch with you to learn more about your work?

John: Well, you can go to my website, which is SafeQuantum.com, and all my information is there. I am leading the use cases TAC (technical advisory committee) at QEDC. And if youre a company that wants to join QEDC, I would recommend it. Theres a tremendous amount of knowledge within the group and its a very good place to learn. You can also look at me in Forbes Technology Council. I try to publish one paper a month there. Thats how you can find me. And LinkedIn.

Yuval: Thats perfect. Well, thank you so much for joining me today.

John: Well, thank you.

Yuval Boger is a quantum computing executive. Known as the Superposition Guy as well as the original Qubit Guy, he most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer for Classiq. He can be reached on LinkedIn or at this email.

October 12, 2022

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Podcast with John Prisco, President and CEO of Safe Quantum - Quantum Computing Report

As we look at some of the future technologies that are shaping the world today, investors can turn to exchange traded fund strategies to capture these growing opportunities.

In the recent webcast, Invest in Tomorrows Disruptive Technology Today, Sylvia Jablonski, CEO and CIO of Defiance ETFs, noted that the global quantum computing market could be worth $949 million by 2025, compared to a global market value of $89 million back in 2016, projecting a growth rate of more than 10 times by 2025.

Jablonski argued that growth will only accelerate in the quantum computing space as the technology matures. For example, the quantum computing growth of quantum computing systems produced by organizations in qubits was only two back in 1998 but has jumped to 128 as of 2019.

Looking ahead, Jablonski estimated a 43% compound growth rate of the quantum computing industry from 2020 through 2030.

Many will continue to adopt the quantum computing algorithm due to its polynomial runtime, which decreases the time needed to solve complex problems. For example, a problem that requires 3,300 years to solve under a classical algorithm with exponential runtime would take only take 11 minutes under a quantum algorithm with polynomial runtime.

Quantum computing is already being applied. The banking and finance sub-segment is expected to have the fastest growth in the global market mainly because of the growing adoption of quantum computing.

To access this growing opportunity, investors can take a look at the Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM), which offers investors liquid, transparent, and low-cost access to companies developing and applying quantum computing and other transformative computing technologies by tracking the BlueStar Quantum Computing and Machine Learning Index.

Along with quantum computing, Paul Dellaquila, president of Defiance ETFs, highlighted the growth potential of next-generation communication services through 5G networking.

Dellaquila noted that the global 5G services market size was estimated at $64.54 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit around $1.87 trillion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 44.63% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2030.

Looking ahead, Dellaquila anticipated 5G subscriptions to reach 4.4 billion globally by the end of 2027, or the majority of total global mobile subscriptions. More than 615 million 5G devices have already been shipped in 2021. Additionally, there will be an estimated 1.8 billion 5G connections by 2025, led by Asia and the United States.

Dellaquila also pointed out that 5G applications cover a vast swathe of global segments, including enterprises, consumer, and government sectors.

Investors can turn to something like the Defiance Next Gen Connectivity ETF (FIVG) for liquid, transparent, and low-cost access to companies engaged in the research and development or commercialization of systems and materials used in 5G communications.

In addition, Jablonski highlighted the first inverse blockchain ETF, Defiance Daily Short Digitizing the Economy ETF (IBIT), to serve sophisticated investors by offering a convenient and cost-effective way to short up to 80% of the blockchain ecosystem. IBIT aims to reflect the inverse performance of BLOK, the Amplify Transformational Data ETF, daily. IBIT may help reduce the drawdown of these underlying assets or simply benefit by going long with an ETF that captures the fall of the theme.

Financial advisors interested in learning more about disruptive technologies can watch the webcast here on demand.

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ETFs to Help Investors Capture Innovative Growth Ideas of Tomorrow - ETF Trends

For the Record provides information about recent professional activities and honors of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent presentations, publications and honors include the following:

Erik T. Thostenson, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering delivered an invited presentation at the Gordon Research Conference onMultifunctional Materials and Structures. Gordon Research Conferences are a group of international conferences that cover frontier research in the sciences and their related technologies. The thematic topic of the 2022 conference was "Imparting Intelligence in and Through Self-Learning Materials and Structures."His presentation, "Scalable Manufacturing of Multifunctionalin situSensors," highlighted the recent research of his group on the processing of novel carbon nanotube-based sensors and their applications ranging from structural health monitoring of critical infrastructure to wearable garments for physical rehabilitation. Thostenson, who is a joint faculty member of UD'sCenter for Composite Materials, leads the Multifunctional Composites Laboratory. He has made pioneering research contributions in the processing, characterization and modeling of carbon nanotube-based composite materials. His scholarly research has been cited nearly23,000 timesin the scientific literature.

On Oct. 6, 2022, Sarah Trembanis, Associate in Arts Program professor of history, along with AAP graduate and current UD junior Haley Ryanpresented a talk at the Bethany Beach Fire Hall, entitled "Cat Hill Cemetery: An Investigation in Historic Sussex County." Their talk was based on research undertaken through a 2022 Community Engagement Initiative summer fellows grant and in partnership with the South Bethany Historical Society. Ryan ismajoring in history and minoring in both women and gender studies and domestic violence prevention and services.The project was the subject of a recent article in the Coastal Point newspaper.

Monet Lewis-Timmons, a doctoral candidate in the Department of English, successfully nominated the noted Delaware writer, teacher, suffragist, civil rights and peace activist Alice Dunbar-Nelson, for inclusion in the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame. At the induction event on Oct. 12, 2022, Lewis-Timmons provided the audience with a sketch of Dunbar-Nelson's life and accomplishments. Alice Dunbar-Nelson's papers are housed in the UD Library's Special Collections Department.

Jennifer Horney, professor and director of the Epidemiology Program within the College of Health Sciences, has published The COVID-19 Response: The Vital Role of the Public Health Professional. Published by Elsevier and geared toward graduate students in public health and those working in public health-adjacent fields, the book, available on Amazon, emphasizes the critical roles that the public health workforce played on the frontlines of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to bring visibility to the field. Public health is at a real pivot point, and we need to raise awareness of the breadth and depth of the roles of public health agencies and the workforce, Horney said. During the pandemic, a lot of people got wrapped up in the complexity or inconsistency of messaging from the CDC, but they didnt realize their friends and neighbors working in public health were responsible for standing up COVID test sites and vaccination campaigns in NASCAR stadiums or analyzing millions of COVID test results. The COVID-19 Response also delves into the disinvestment in public health following the 2008 financial crisis and pushes for a path forward that will be essential to meeting the future challenges and threats public health will undoubtedly face. Horney, who serves as core faculty for UDs Disaster Research Center, is also the editor for COVID-19, Frontline Responders and Mental Health: A Playbook for Delivering Resilient Public Health Systems Post-Pandemic, which covers the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 response. The book will be published by Emerald on Jan. 23, 2023.

Juliet Dee, associate professor of communication, is the coauthor of the chapter Religious Freedom versus Public Health: Discordant Legal Narratives in the Pandemic, 41-65, in Discordant Pandemic Narratives in the United States, edited by Shing-Ling S. Chen and Nicole Allaire and published by Lexington Books. She is also the author of an article on Fighting Back: Is Defamation Law a Double-Edged Sword for #MeToo Victims? in First Amendment Studies 55:2, 148-174 (2021).

Sarah Pragg, assistant policy scientist in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration's Institute of Public Administration, was presented with the 202223 University of Delaware Rising Star Award by the Delaware ACE Womens Network (DAWN). The Rising Star award is granted annually to one nominee from each institute of higher education in Delawarewho demonstrates the promise of future leadership.DAWN is the Delaware chapter of the AmericanCouncil on Education (ACE).The organization is committed to the advancement of women in higher education through developing, mentoring and promoting women leaders. Pragg acts as a principal investigator leading research projects that benefit Delaware's state and local governments; she supervises and mentors students providing them with real-world experiences; and she is a highly sought-after presenter and trainer.On Oct. 13, 2022, she was honored at the DAWN virtual celebration in celebration of her accomplishments.

Cameron Ibrahim, a doctoral student in theDepartment of Computer & Information Scienceswho is supervised by Ilya Safro, associate professor, received the Best Student Paper Award at the2022 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing conference. Ibrahims paper "Constructing Optimal Contraction Trees for Tensor Network Quantum Circuit Simulation" was presented at the Quantum and Non-Deterministic Computing Session on Sept. 19, 2022. This conference, organized in cooperation with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), is the largest of its kind in New England and features cutting edge work on AI, machine learning, graph analytics and quantum computing. Ibrahim's research is focused on algorithm design for speeding up quantum computing simulations and was funded by an Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award from the National Science Foundation, an area of research related to efforts taking place in UD's Quantum Science and Engineering graduate program. The complete list of coauthors includes UDs Ibrahim and Safro, Danylo Lykov and Yuri Alexeev from Argonne National Laboratory and Zichang He from UC Santa Barbara.

To submit information for inclusion in For the Record, write to ocm@udel.edu and include For the Record in the subject line.

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For the Record, Oct. 14, 2022 | UDaily - UDaily

Unhackable communications devices, high-precision GPS and high-resolution medical imaging all have something in common. These technologies some under development and some already on the market all rely on the non-intuitive quantum phenomenon of entanglement.

Two quantum particles, like pairs of atoms or photons, can become entangled. That means a property of one particle is linked to a property of the other, and a change to one particle instantly affects the other particle, regardless of how far apart they are. This correlation is a key resource in quantum information technologies.

For the most part, quantum entanglement is still a subject of physics research, but its also a component of commercially available technologies, and it plays a starring role in the emerging quantum information processing industry.

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized the profound legacy of Alain Aspect of France, John F. Clauser of the U.S. and Austrian Anton Zeilingers experimental work with quantum entanglement, which has personally touched me since the start of my graduate school career as a physicist. Anton Zeilinger was a mentor of my Ph.D. mentor, Paul Kwiat, which heavily influenced my dissertation on experimentally understanding decoherence in photonic entanglement.

Decoherence occurs when the environment interacts with a quantum object in this case a photon to knock it out of the quantum state of superposition. In superposition, a quantum object is isolated from the environment and exists in a strange blend of two opposite states at the same time, like a coin toss landing as both heads and tails. Superposition is necessary for two or more quantum objects to become entangled.

Quantum entanglement is a critical element of quantum information processing, and photonic entanglement of the type pioneered by the Nobel laureates is crucial for transmitting quantum information. Quantum entanglement can be used to build large-scale quantum communications networks.

On a path toward long-distance quantum networks, Jian-Wei Pan, one of Zeilingers former students, and colleagues demonstrated entanglement distribution to two locations separated by 764 miles (1,203 km) on Earth via satellite transmission. However, direct transmission rates of quantum information are limited due to loss, meaning too many photons get absorbed by matter in transit so not enough reach the destination.

Entanglement is critical for solving this roadblock, through the nascent technology of quantum repeaters. An important milestone for early quantum repeaters, called entanglement swapping, was demonstrated by Zeilinger and colleagues in 1998. Entanglement swapping links one each of two pairs of entangled photons, thereby entangling the two initially independent photons, which can be far apart from each other.

Perhaps the most well known quantum communications application is Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), which allows someone to securely distribute encryption keys. If those keys are stored properly, they will be secure, even from future powerful, code-breaking quantum computers.

While the first proposal for QKD did not explicitly require entanglement, an entanglement-based version was subsequently proposed. Shortly after this proposal came the first demonstration of the technique, through the air over a short distance on a table-top. The first demonstrations of entangement-based QKD were published by research groups led by Zeilinger, Kwiat and Nicolas Gisin were published in the same issue of Physical Review Letters in May 2000.

These entanglement-based distributed keys can be used to dramatically improve the security of communications. A first important demonstration along these lines was from the Zeilinger group, which conducted a bank wire transfer in Vienna, Austria, in 2004. In this case, the two halves of the QKD system were located at the headquarters of a large bank and the Vienna City Hall. The optical fibers that carried the photons were installed in the Vienna sewer system and spanned nine-tenths of a mile (1.45 km).

Today, there are a handful of companies that have commercialized quantum key distribution technology, including my groups collaborator Qubitekk, which focuses on an entanglement-based approach to QKD. With a more recent commercial Qubitekk system, my colleagues and I demonstrated secure smart grid communications in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Quantum communications, computing and sensing technologies are of great interest to the military and intelligence communities. Quantum entanglement also promises to boost medical imaging through optical sensing and high-resolution radio frequency detection, which could also improve GPS positioning. Theres even a company gearing up to offer entanglement-as-a-service by providing customers with network access to entangled qubits for secure communications.

There are many other quantum applications that have been proposed and have yet to be invented that will be enabled by future entangled quantum networks. Quantum computers will perhaps have the most direct impact on society by enabling direct simulation of problems that do not scale well on conventional digital computers. In general, quantum computers produce complex entangled networks when they are operating. These computers could have huge impacts on society, ranging from reducing energy consumption to developing personally tailored medicine.

Finally, entangled quantum sensor networks promise the capability to measure theorized phenomena, such as dark matter, that cannot be seen with todays conventional technology. The strangeness of quantum mechanics, elucidated through decades of fundamental experimental and theoretical work, has given rise to a new burgeoning global quantum industry.

Nicholas Peters, Joint Faculty, University of Tennessee

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Nobel-winning Quantum Weirdness Undergirds an Emerging High-tech Industry, Promising Better Ways of Encrypting Communications and Imaging Your Body -...

Another record has been broken on the way to fully operational and capable quantum computers: the complete control of a 6-qubit quantum processor in silicon.

Researchers are calling it "a major stepping stone" for the technology.

Qubits (or quantum bits) are the quantum equivalents of classical computing bits, only they can potentially process much more information. Thanks to quantum physics, they can be in two states at once, rather than just a single 1 or 0.

The difficulty is in getting a lot of qubits to behave as we need them to, which is why this jump to six is important. Being able to operate them in silicon the same material used in today's electronic devices makes the technology potentially more viable.

"The quantum computing challenge today consists of two parts," says quantum computing researcher Stephan Philips from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. "Developing qubits that are of good enough quality, and developing an architecture that allows one to build large systems of qubits."

"Our work fits into both categories. And since the overall goal of building a quantum computer is an enormous effort, I think it is fair to say we have made a contribution in the right direction."

The qubits are made from individual electrons fixed in a row, 90 nanometers apart (a human hair is around 75,000 nanometers in diameter). This line of 'quantum dots' is placed in silicon, using a structure similar to the transistors used in standard processors.

By making careful improvements to the way the electrons were prepared, managed, and monitored, the team was able to successfully control their spin the quantum mechanical property that enables the qubit state.

The researchers were also able to create logic gates and entangle systems of two or three electrons, on demand, with low error rates.

Researchers used microwave radiation, magnetic fields, and electric potentials to control and read electron spin, operating them as qubits, and getting them to interact with each other as required.

"In this research, we push the envelope of the number of qubits in silicon, and achieve high initialization fidelities, high readout fidelities, high single-qubit gate fidelities, and high two-qubit state fidelities," says electrical engineer Lieven Vandersypen, also from the Delft University of Technology.

"What really stands out though is that we demonstrate all these characteristics together in one single experiment on a record number of qubits."

Up until this point, only 3-qubit processors have been successfully built in silicon and controlled up to the necessary level of quality so we're talking about a major step forward in terms of what's possible in this type of qubit.

There are different ways of building qubits including on superconductors, where many more qubits have been operated together and scientists are still figuring out the method that might be the best way forward.

The advantage of silicon is that the manufacturing and supply chains are all already in place, meaning the transition from a scientific laboratory to an actual machine should be more straightforward. Work continues to keep pushing the qubit record even higher.

"With careful engineering, it is possible to increase the silicon spin qubit count while keeping the same precision as for single qubits," says electrical engineer Mateusz Madzik from the Delft University of Technology.

"The key building block developed in this research could be used to add even more qubits in the next iterations of study."

The research has been published in Nature.

Read more:
There's a New Quantum Computing Record: Control of a 6-Qubit Processor in Silicon - ScienceAlert

Cleveland Clinic has been selected as a founding partner and the leading healthcare system in a new initiative meant to spur collaboration and innovation in the quantum computing industry.

Based in Greater Washington D.C., Connected DMV and a cross-sector coalition of partners are developing the new Life Sciences and Healthcare Quantum Innovation Hub to prepare the industry for the burgeoning quantum era and align with key national and global efforts in life sciences and quantum technologies.

The U.S. Department of Commerces Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded more than $600,000 to Connected DMV for development of the Hub. This will include the formation of a collaboration of at least 25 organizations specializing in quantum end-use and technology build.

Cleveland Clinic was invited to join the Hub because of its work in advancing medical research through quantum computing. As the lead healthcare system in the coalition, Cleveland Clinic will help define quantums role in the future of healthcare and disseminate education to other health systems on its possibilities.

We believe quantum computing holds great promise for accelerating the pace of scientific discovery, said Lara Jehi, M.D., M.H.C.D.S., Cleveland Clinics Chief Research Information Officer. As an academic medical center, research, innovation and education are an integral part of Cleveland Clinics mission. Quantum, AI and other emerging technologies have the potential to revolutionize medicine, and we look forward to working with partners across healthcare and life sciences to solve complex medical problems and change the course of diseases like cancer, heart conditions and neurodegenerative disorders.

Last year, Cleveland Clinic announced a 10-year partnership with IBM to establish the Discovery Accelerator, a joint center focused on easing traditional bottlenecks in medical research through innovative technologies such as quantum computing, hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence. The partnership leverages Cleveland Clinics medical expertise with the technology expertise of IBM including its leadership in quantum technology which recently resulted in the Breakthrough Award in Fundamental Physics for quantum information science. The Discovery Accelerator will allow Cleveland Clinic to contribute to Connected DMVs Hub by advancing the pace of discovery with the first private sector on-premises Quantum System One being installed on Cleveland Clinics main campus.

Innovation is always iterative, and requires sustained collaboration between research, development and technology, and the industries that will benefit from the value generated, said George Thomas, Chief Innovation Officer of Connected DMV and lead of its Potomac Quantum Innovation Center initiative. Quantum has the potential to have a substantive impact on our society in the near future, and the Life Sciences and Healthcare Quantum Innovation Hub will serve as the foundation for sustained focus and investment to accelerate and scale our path into the era of quantum.

The Hub will be part of Connected DMVs Potomac Quantum Innovation Center initiative, which aims to: accelerate quantum investment, and research and development; develop an equitable and scalable talent pipeline; and scale collaboration between the public sector, academia, industry, community, and investors to accelerate the value of quantum. The Quantum Innovation Hubs are a part of this initiative to focus on accelerating quantum investment, research and development in key industry sectors.

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Cleveland Clinic Selected as Founding Partner in Greater Washington, D.C., Quantum Computing Hub - Cleveland Clinic Newsroom

The idea of using the laws of quantum mechanics for computation was proposed in 1982 by Richard Feynman. But Deutschwho is at the University of Oxford, UKis often credited with establishing the conceptual foundations of the discipline. Computer bits that obey quantum principles, such as superposition and entanglement, can carry out some calculations much faster and more efficiently than ones that obey classical rules. In 1985 Deutsch postulated that a device made from such quantum bits (qubits) could be made universal, meaning it could simulate any quantum system. Deutsch framed his proposal in the context of the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics (of which he is an advocate), likening the process of one quantum computation to that of many parallel computations occurring simultaneously in entangled worlds.

To motivate further work in quantum computing, researchers at the time needed problems that a quantum computer could uniquely solve. I remember conversations in the early 1990s in which people would argue about whether quantum computers would ever be able to do anything really useful, says quantum physicist William Wootters of Williams College, Massachusetts, who has worked with Bennett and Brassard on quantum cryptography problems. Then suddenly Peter Shor devised a quantum algorithm that could indeed do something eminently useful.

In 1995 Shor, who is now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developed an algorithm that could factorize large integersdecompose them into products of primesmuch more efficiently than any known classical algorithm. In classical computation, the time that it takes to factorize a large number increases exponentially as the number gets larger, which is why factorizing large numbers provides the basis for todays methods for online data encryption. Shors algorithm showed that for a quantum computer, the time needed increases less rapidly, making factorizing large numbers potentially more feasible. This theoretical demonstration immediately injected energy into the field, Wootters says. Shor has also made important contributions to the theory of quantum error correction, which is more challenging in quantum than in classical computation (see Focus: LandmarksCorrecting Quantum Computer Errors).

Without Deutsch and Shor we would not have the field of quantum computation as we know it today, says quantum theorist Artur Ekert of the University of Oxford, who considers Deutsch his mentor. David defined the field, and Peter took it to an entirely different level by discovering the real power of quantum computation and by showing that it actually can be done.

Data encryption is the topic cited for the award of Bennett (IBMs Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York) and Brassard (University of Montreal, Canada). In 1984 the pair described a protocol in which information could be encoded in qubits and sent between two parties in such a way that the information could not be read by an eavesdropper without that intervention being detected. Like quantum computing, this quantum cryptographic scheme relies on entangling qubits, meaning that their properties are interdependent, no matter how far apart they are separated. This BB84 protocol and similar quantum encryption schemes have now been used for secure transmission of data along optical networks and even via satellite over thousands of kilometers (see Focus: Intercontinental, Quantum-Encrypted Messaging and Video).

In 1993 Bennett and Brassard also showed how entanglement may be harnessed for quantum teleportation, whereby the state of one qubit is broadcast to another distant one while the original state is destroyed (see Focus: LandmarksTeleportation is not Science Fiction). This process too has applications in quantum information processing.

I am really gratified by this award because it recognizes the field of quantum information and computation, Shor says. Deutsch echoes the sentiment: Im glad that [quantum information] is now officially regarded as fundamental physics rather than as philosophy, mathematics, computer science, or engineering.

Deutsch, Shor, Bennett, and Brassard deserve recognition for their work, and Im delighted that theyre getting it, Wootters says. He notes that their research not only inspired the development of quantum technologies, but also influenced new research in quantum foundations. Quantum information theory views quantum theory through a novel lens and opens up a new perspective from which to address foundational questions.

Read the rest here:
Physics - Breakthrough Prize for the Physics of Quantum Informationand of Cells - Physics

In July 2022, the Israel Innovation Authority announced a budget of NIS 100 million ($29 million) to build a quantum computing research center headed by Israeli startup Quantum Machines, which will also help create a quantum computer.

Israels new quantum computing center is part of the NIS 1.25 billion ($390 million) Israel National Quantum Initiative, launched in 2018 to facilitate relevant quantum research, develop human capital in the field, encourage industrial projects, and invite international cooperation on R&D.

Israel has about two dozen startups and companies currently focused on quantum technologies, including Quantum Machines, whichraised $50 millionlast September. The company was founded in 2018, and went on to develop a standard universal language for quantum computers, as well as a unique platform that helps them run.

According to the Times of Israel, Defense Ministrys Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) will issue a separate tender to finance the development of quantum technologies for military use for another NIS 100 million, the innovation authority said. According to their joint announcement Tuesday, the budget will fund two parallel avenues. The Israel Innovation Authority will focus on developing the infrastructure for quantum computational ability, which, it said, may include the use of technology from abroad. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministrys Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) will establish a national center with quantum capabilities that will work with academia, industry, and government partners to develop a quantum processor and a complete quantum computer.

Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Intel are allracingto make quantum computing more accessible and build their systems. Countries such as China, the US, Germany, India, and Japanare pouring millionsinto developing their quantum abilities.

According to recent marketprojections, the global quantum computing market size was expected to have been worth $487.4 million in 2021, and reach $3.7 billion by 2030. Israels $29 million is minuscule compared to the governments above, and the tech elephants.

These government-funded initiatives to achieve dominance in critical technology remind me of Japans Fifth Generation, which never really reached its goals.

Itamar Sivan, co-founder and CEO of Quantum Machines, said in a company statement that the project's goal was to give Israeli companies access to the most advanced quantum technologies and services so that they can develop deep quantum expertise across industry and academia. This expertise will allow Israeli companies across various sectors and industries to gain a leading global position.

Quantum Machines, founded in 2018, has built a hardware and software solution Quantum Orchestration Platform (QOP) for operating quantum systems to facilitate research and enable future breakthroughs. The startup also developed the QUA, a standard universal language for quantum computers that will allow researchers and scientists to write programs for varied quantum computers with one unified code. Quantum Machines, together with a consortium of Israeli and international quantum tech companies at the center, will build a quantum computer to be made available to the commercial and research communities.

Israels $29 million is minuscule compared to the governments above and tech elephants. According torecent market projections, the global quantum computing market is expected to grow from about $470 million in 2021 to about $1.765 billion by 2026.

Quantum Machines is an exciting company. They possess no quantum computer of their own, and their products are somewhat unique. While most quantum computers are in labs as objects of experiments by scientists, Sivan explained something I didnt realize to me. According to Sivan, a quantum computer needs three elements: a quantum computer and an orchestration platform of (conventional) hardware and software. There is no software in a quantum computer. The platform manages the progress of its algorithm mainly through laser beam pulses. The logic needed to operate the quantum computer resides with and is controlled by the orchestration platform.

The crucial difference between Google's and Quantum Machines' strategy is that Google views the current NISQ state of affairs as a testbed for finding algorithms and applications for future development. At the same time, Sivan and his company produced an orchestration platform to put the current technology into play. Their platform is quantum computer agnostic it can operate with any of them. Sivan feels that focusing solely on the number of qubits is just part of the equation.

The center will offer access to research and development on three quantum processing technologies superconducting qubits, cold ions, and optic compute and provide services to the Israeli quantum computing community, the Israel Innovation Authority said Sunday. As per the Times of Israel:

Ami Appelbaum, chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority, said the new center was 'the answer to an existing strategic market failure and is part of the authoritys policy of enabling the industry to maintain its leading position at the forefront of breakthrough and disruptive technologies.'

'Quantum computing is a technology Israeli industry cannot ignore,' said Israel Innovation Authority CEO Dror Bin in a statement Tuesday. 'The industry must develop knowledge and access to infrastructure in which it can develop growth engines for activities it will decide to lead.'

I've always believed that action speaks louder than words. While Google is taking the long view, Quantum Machines provides the platform to see how far we can go with current technology. As I wrote in The unpredictable rise of quantum computing - have recent breakthroughs accelerated the timeline?

Google suggests the real unsolved problems in fields like optimization, materials science, chemistry, drug discovery, finance, and electronics will take machines with thousands of qubits and even envision one million on a planar array etched in aluminum. Major problems need solving, such as noise elimination, coherence, and lifetime (a qubit holds its position in a tiny time slice).

Googles tactics are familiar. Every time you use TensorFlow, it gets better. Every time you play with their autonomous car, it gets better. Their collaboration with a dozen technically advanced companies improves their quantum technology.

Read more:
The Israel Innovation Authority is building a new quantum computing research center - what will the impact be? - Diginomica

We are pleased to announce that registration will open this week for the International Conference on Quantum Technology for High-Energy Physics, which will be hosted at CERN on 14 November 2022. The event will take place in the CERN Main Auditorium, with featured sessions being broadcast live.

The conference will serve as a forum to discuss both the potential of and the challenges surrounding the nascent quantum technology and what overall impact this new frontier of science might have on high-energy physics (HEP). Bringing the whole community together, we will discuss recent developments in the field and keep looking for those activities within HEP and beyond that can most benefit from the application of quantum technologies.

Spread across four days, the event will cover a number of topics ranging from four quantum technology areas (theory, sensing, computing and communication) to collaboration with academia and industry, entrepreneurship, training and education activities. There will also be a series of tutorials and hands-on sessions co-developed with companies and providers, to explore the fascinating field of quantum science to its fullest extent.

Following a successful workshop on quantum computing in 2018 that marked the beginning of a range of new investigations into quantum computing at CERN, this is the first edition of the QT4HEP conference and a great opportunity to share knowledge and ideas, advance quantum expertise and skills and foster common activities with academia and industry on national and international levels.

Join us as we unlock the full potential of innovative quantum technology and its great promise to support scientific research: https://indico.cern.ch/e/QT4HEP22.

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About CERN QTI

The CERN Quantum Technology Initiative (CERN QTI) is a comprehensive R&D and knowledge-sharing initiative to investigate applications of quantum technologies for high-energy physics and beyond. Given CERNs increasing information and communications technology and computing demands, as well as the significant national and international interest in quantum-technology activities, CERN QTI aims to provide dedicated mechanisms for the exchange of both knowledge and innovation.

Find out more at quantum.cern and on Twitter and LinkedIn.Link to the roadmap: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5553774.

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CERN to host International Conference on Quantum Technology for High-Energy Physics (QT4HEP22) - CERN