Category Archives: Quantum Computing

Breakthroughs in quantum computing keep coming the latest quantum processor designed by Google has solved a complex mathematical calculation in less than four minutes; the most advanced conventional computers would require 10,000 years to get to an answer. Heres the problem though: even as scientists perfect the quantum computing hardware, there arent many people with the expertise to make use of it, particularly in real-life settings.

Joe Fitzsimons, the founder of Horizon Quantum Computing, believes he is well-placed to help here. Fitzsimons left academia in 2018 following years of research at Oxford University and the Quantum Information and Theory group in Singapore, spotting an opportunity. Were building the tools that will help people take advantage of these advances in the real world, he explains.

To understand Horizons unique selling point does not require a crash course in quantum computing. The key point is that while conventional computing uses binary processing technique a world reduced to 0 or 1 quantum computing operates using many combinations of these digits simultaneously; that means it can get results far more quickly.

The problem for anyone wanting to take advantage of this speed and power is that conventional computer programs wont run on quantum computing. And not only do you need a different language to tell your quantum computer what to do, the program also needs to be able to work out the best way for the machine to achieve a given outcome; not every possible route will secure an advantage.

A further difficulty is that quantum computer programmers are in short supply. And quantum computer programmers who also understand the intricacies of commercial problems that need solving in financial services, pharmaceuticals or energy, say are non-existent.

Horizon aims to fill this gap. Our role is to make quantum computing accessible by building the tools with which people can use it in the real world, he explains. If there is a problem that can be addressed by quantum computing, we need to make it more straightforward to do so.

Think of Horizon as offering a translation service. If you have written a programme to deliver a particular outcome on a conventional computer, Horizons translation tool will turn it into a programme that can deliver the same outcome from a quantum processor. Even better, the tool will work out the best possible way to make that translation so that it optimises the power of quantum computing to deliver your outcome more speedily.

Horizon's Joe Fitzsimons wants to drive access to quantum computing

In the absence of such tools, real-life applications for quantum computing have been developing slowly. One alternative is to use one of the libraries of programmes that already exist for quantum computing, assuming there is one for your particular use case. Another is to hire a team of experts or buy expertise in from a consultant to build your application for you, but this requires time and money, even if talent with the right skills for your outcome is actually out there.

Instead, we are trying to automate what someone with that expertise would do, adds Fitzsimons. If youre an expert in your particular field, we provide the quantum computing expertise so that you don't need it.

We are not quite at the stage of bringing quantum computing to the masses. For one thing, hardware developers are still trying to perfect the machines themselves. For another, we dont yet have a clear picture of where quantum computing will deliver the greatest benefits, though it is increasingly clear that the most promising commercial use cases lie in industries that generate huge amounts of data and require complex analytics to drive insight from that information.

Nevertheless, Fitzsimons believes widescale adoption of quantum computing is coming closer by the day. He points to the huge volumes of funding now going into the industry not least, private sector investment is doubling each year and the continuing technical breakthroughs.

From a commercial perspective, the forecasts are impressive. The consulting group BCG thinks the quantum computing sector could create $5bn-$10bn worth of value in the next three to five years and $450bn to $850bn in the next 15 to 30 years. And Horizon is convinced it can help bring those paydays forward.

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How Horizon Plans To Bring Quantum Computing Out Of The Shadows - Forbes

Sept. 8, 2021 How can one predict a materials behavior on the molecular and atomic levels, at the shortest timescales? Whats the best way to design materials to make use of their quantum properties for electronics and information science?

These broad, difficult questions are the type of inquiries that UC Santa Barbara theorist Vojtech Vlcek and his lab will investigate as part of a select group of scientists chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop new operating frameworks for some of the worlds most powerful computers. Vlcek will be leading one of five DOE-funded projects to the tune of $28 million overall that will focus on computational methods, algorithms and software to further chemical and materials research, specifically for simulating quantum phenomena and chemical reactions.

Its really exciting, said Vlcek, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and one of, if not the youngest researcher to lead such a major endeavor. We believe we will be for the first time able to not only really describe realistic systems, but also provide this whole framework for ultrafast and driven phenomena that will actually set the scene for future developments.

I congratulate Vojtech Vlcek on being selected for this prestigious grant, said Pierre Wiltzius, dean of mathematical, physical and life sciences at UC Santa Barbara. Its especially impressive and unusual for an assistant professor to lead this type of complex, multi-institution research project. Vojtech is in a league if his own, and I look forward to future insights that will come from the teams discoveries.

A Multilayer Framework

As part of the DOEs efforts toward clean energy technologies, scientists across the nation study matter and energy at their most fundamental levels. The goal is to design and discover new materials and processes that can generate, manipulate and store energy techniques that have applications in a wide variety of areas, including energy, environment and national security.

Uncovering these potentially beneficial phenomena and connecting them to the atoms they come from is hard work work that could be assisted with the use of the supercomputers that are housed in the DOEs national laboratories.

DOEs national labs are home to some of the worlds fastest supercomputers, and with more advanced software programs we can fully harness the power of these supercomputers to make breakthrough discoveries and solve the worlds hardest to crack problems, said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. These investments will help sustain U.S. leadership in science, accelerate basic energy and advance solutions to the nations clean energy priorities.

Among these hard-to-crack problems is the issue of many interacting particles. Interactions are more easily predicted in a system of a few atoms or molecules, or in very regular, periodic systems. But add more bodies or use more elaborate systems and the complexity skyrockets because the characteristics and behaviors of and interactions between every particle have to be accounted for. In some cases, their collective behaviors can produce interesting phenomena that cant be predicted from the behavior of individual particles.

People have been working with small molecules, or characterizing perfectly periodic systems, or looking at just a few atoms, Vlcek said, and more or less extending their dynamics to try to approximate the behaviors of larger, more complex systems.

This is not necessarily realistic, he continued. We want to simulate surfaces. We want to simulate systems that have large-scale periodicity. And in these cases you need to consider systems that are not on nanometer scales, but on the scale of thousands of atoms.

Add to that complexity non-equilibrium processes, which are the focus of Vlceks particular project. He will be leading an effort that involves an additional seven co-principal investigators from UC Berkeley, UCLA, Rutgers University, University of Michigan and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Essentially these systems are driven by some strong external stimuli, like from lasers or other driving fields, he said. These processes are relevant for many applications, such as electronics and quantum information sciences.

The goal, according to Vlcek, is to develop algorithms and software based on a multilayer framework with successive layers of embedding theories to capture non-equilibrium dynamics. The team, in partnership with two DOE-supported Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) Institutes at Lawrence Berkeley and Argonne National Laboratories, begins with the most fundamental assumptions of quantum theory. That foundation is followed by layers that incorporate novel numerical techniques and neural network approaches to take advantage of the intensive computing the supercomputers can perform.

We still stay with the first principles approach, but were making successive levels of approximations, Vlcek explained. And with this approach well be able to treat extremely large systems. Among the many advantages of the methodology will be the ability for the first time to describe experimental systems in real-time, as they are driven by external forces.

The outcome of the project will be bigger than the sum of its parts, said Vlcek. Not only will it provide a method of studying and designing a wide variety of present and future novel materials, the algorithms are also meant for future supercomputers.

One interesting outcome will be that we will also try to connect to future computational platforms, which could possibly be quantum computers, he said. So this framework will actually allow future research on present and future novel materials as well as new theoretical research.

Source: UC Santa Barbara

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Quantum Computing Theorist Vojtech Vlcek Receives Research Award from DOE - HPCwire

When it comes to people pushing the frontiers of science, few institutions can match the talent of the Department of Defense, the intelligence agencies and the U.S. national laboratory system. With ample budgets and flexible oversight under that aura of national security, ambitious scientists and engineers are working on everything from quantum computing to next-generation satellites.

That wealth of talent is often left behind in the frenetic product development and fundraising world of Silicon Valley. Langley, Arlington and Los Alamos are a far cry from Palo Alto or New York City. Even more challenging is the career transition: the government is, well, the government, and the private sector is, well, the private sector. Moving from one to the next can be quite jarring.

Scout Ventures wants to act as the bridge between the startup world and that vast science and technology workforce, with a particular focus on veterans of the military, intelligence agencies and national labs. Founded about a decade ago in 2012 by Brad Harrison, the firm raised two funds and invested in several dozen companies at the earliest stages, including identity verification platform ID.me (now valued at $1.5 billion), mens subscription service Bespoke Post and youth sports management platform LeagueApps. It also incubated companies like health services company Unite Us.

The firm announced this morning that is has raised a $55 million third fund, which will continue its focus on backing veterans while centering its investment thesis on frontier tech in areas like machine learning, robotics, drones, physical security, quantum computing and space (that said, the firm does not invest in weapons).

Harrison, who has been a long-time angel investor prior to forming Scout Ventures and is a West Point grad and Army Airborne Ranger, said that when he started to look at the track records of the most successful founders he backed, many of them happened to be veterans. So he started doubling down on that thesis, eventually hiring Wes Blackwell who graduated from the Naval Academy and Sam Ellis in Brooklyn from West Point as his co-partners.

Scout Ventures partners Wes Blackwell, Brad Harrison and Sam Ellis. Image Credits: Scout Ventures.

Scout is a traditional seed stage fund, and Harrison said that the firm targets roughly a deal per month, with a typical check between $500,000 and $1 million targeting 10% ownership. The firm also reserves $2-3 million in capital for follow-on investments.

One of the firms unique differentiators is taking advantage of ample non-dilutive funding from government programs and locking that in for its portfolio companies. Harrison said that the firm typically can secure three dollars of such funds for each dollar it invests, allowing its portfolio companies to grow faster for longer and with less dilution. Were seeing the most active money flowing through Air Force number one, Army number two, and then you are seeing some money flowing through the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, Harrison said.

In terms of companies, the target is so-called dual-use startups that have applications that can be used by both the public and private sectors. These are core, disruptive technologies that we believe are going to bring a shift change, so they inherently have applications to the DoD and the commercial sector, he said. They are hard to find, and that is why we talk to so many companies.

As examples of startups within this thesis, Harrison pointed to four companies in quantum computing and others in electronic warfare, where applications can be as important to the NSA as to telecoms like Verizon and T-Mobile. He also pointed out companies like De-Ice, which is using electromagnetic technology to make deicing of planes and other equipment faster and safer. Such technology could improve operations for the Air Force as well as civilian carriers.

Ultimately, Scout hopes that its unique network and focus will allow it to access these hard-to-reach founders who are really distrustful of most VCs, Harrison said. That makes us competitive.

Among the LPs of the new fund are the New Mexico State Investment Council (home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory), former Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons, Auctus Investment Group, restaurateur and brewer David Kassling, and Michael Loeb.

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With $55M third fund, Scout Ventures is funding veterans ready to tackle the hardest technical challenges - TechCrunch

The University of Maryland and IonQ, a College Park-based quantum computing company, announced Wednesday that they will join forces to develop a facility that will give students, faculty, staff and researchers access to a commercial-grade quantum computer.

The new facility, which will be known as the National Quantum Lab at Maryland or Q-Lab for short is the product of a nearly $20 million investment from this university. As the nations first facility of its kind, it will also provide training related to IonQs hardware and allow visitors to collaborate with the companys scientists and engineers, according to a news release.

No other university in the United States is able to provide students and researchers this level of hands-on contact with commercial-grade quantum computing technology and insights from experts working in this emerging field, university President Darryll Pines said in the news release.

The Q-Lab will be located in the Discovery District next to IonQs headquarters by the College Park Airport, the news release stated.

Quantum computing attempts to evolve computer technology, striving to create a machine that can solve more problems at a faster rate.

[Whats new, whats coming, whats moving: The business scene in College Park]

Around the time IonQ announced its plans to go public earlier this year, Pines explained that classical computing uses a stream of electrical pulses called bits, which represent 1s and 0s, to store information. However, on the quantum scale, subatomic particles known as qubits are used to store information, greatly increasing computing speed.

Most importantly, we wanted to put our scientists at the cutting edge of quantum computers because we know that we already use supercomputers, Pines said Wednesday. But why not use the best computers that are right in our backyard?

Recent advancements in quantum computing also support research in areas such as biology, medicine, climate science and materials development, the release noted, adding that the creation of the Q-Lab may also attract additional entrepreneurs and startups to College Park.

We could not be more proud of IonQs success and we are excited to establish this strategic partnership, further solidifying UMD and the surrounding region as the Quantum Capital of the world, Pines added.

The development of the Q-Lab builds upon the universitys $300 million investment in quantum science and more than 30-year history of advancements in the field, according to the news release. The university also currently houses more than 200 researchers and seven centers specializing in quantum-related work.

We are very proud that the nations leading center of academic excellence in quantum research chose IonQs hardware for this trailblazing partnership, said Peter Chapman, the president and CEO of IonQ.

[UMD students allege poor living conditions, maintenance at University Club apartments]

Chris Monroe, a professor in this universitys physics department, and Jungsang Kim co-founded IonQ, which is set to become the first publicly traded commercialized quantum computing company. The company is estimated to go public with a valuation of nearly $2 billion.

The company recently became the first quantum computer supplier whose products are available on all major cloud services providers such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, according to the release.

Monroe and Kim also joined the White Houses National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee in an effort to accelerate the development of the national strategic technological imperative, the news release stated.

UMD has been at the vanguard of this field since quantum computing was in its infancy, and has been a true partner to IonQ as we step out of the lab and into commerce, industry, and the public markets, Chapman said in the news release.

Senior staff writer Clara Niel contributed to this report.

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UMD, IonQ join forces to create the nation's first quantum computing lab in College Park - The Diamondback

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Quantum Machines, a company thats setting out to bring about useful quantum computers, has raised $50 million in a series B round of funding as it looks to fund expansion into quantum cloud computing.

Founded out of Tel Aviv in 2018, Quantum Machines last year formally launched its Quantum Orchestration Platform, pitched as an extensive hardware and software platform for performing the most complex quantum algorithms and experiments and taking quantum computing to the next level by making it more practical and accessible.

Based on principles from quantum mechanics, quantum computing is concerned with quantum bits (qubits) rather than atoms. While still in its relative infancy, quantum computing promises to revolutionize computation by performing in seconds complex calculations that would take the supercomputers of today years or longer. The societal and business implications of this are huge and could expedite new drug discoveries or enhance global logistics in the shipping industry to optimize routes and reduce carbon footprints.

Quantum Machines is focused on developing a new approach to controlling and operating quantum processors.

Quantum processors hold the potential for immense computational power, far beyond those of any classical processor we could ever develop, and they will impact each and every aspect of our lives, Quantum Machines CEO Dr. Itamar Sivan said in a press release.

Venture capital (VC) investments in quantum computing have been relatively modest, but Ionq became the first such company to go public via a SPAC merger in March. And a few months back, PsiQuantum closed a $450 million round of funding to develop the first commercially viable quantum computer, with big-name backers that included BlackRock and Microsofts M12 venture fund. Microsoft also launched its Azure Quantum cloud computing service, which it first announced back in 2019, in public preview.

So quantum computing appears to be gaining momentum, as evidenced by Quantum Machines latest raise. The company had previously raised $23 million, including a $17.5 million series A from last year, and its series B round was led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with the participation from Samsung Next, Battery Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Exor, Claridge Israel, Atreides Management LP, TLV Partners, and 2i Ventures, among others.

The company said it plans to use its fresh capital to help implement an effective cloud infrastructure for quantum computers.

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Quantum computing startup Quantum Machines raises $50M - VentureBeat

A team of researchers has achieved what is being described as a "breakthrough" in quantum computing.

VIEW GALLERY - 2 IMAGES

The achievement comes from a team of researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, who have been able to entangle a three-qubit array in silicon with high accuracy of predicting the state the qubit is in. For those that don't know, instead of using bits to make calculations and perform tasks like a typical computer does, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits.

The device the researchers created used three very small blobs of silicon called quantum dots, and each of these dots can hold one electron. The direction of the spin of the electron encodes the qubit. With that in mind, it should be noted that a "Two-qubit operation is good enough to perform fundamental logical calculations. But a three-qubit system is the minimum unit for scaling up and implementing error correction", explains Tarucha.

False-colored scanning electron micrograph of the device. The purple and green structures represent the aluminum gates, per scitechdaily.com.

After successfully entangling two qubits, the team of researchers introduced the third qubit and was able to predict its state with a high fidelity of 88%. Tarucha added, "We plan to demonstrate primitive error correction using the three-qubit device and to fabricate devices with ten or more qubits. We then plan to develop 50 to 100 qubits and implement more sophisticated error-correction protocols, paving the way to a large-scale quantum computer within a decade."

For more information on this story, check out this link here.

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Quantum computing breakthrough achieved, road to the future begins now - TweakTown

Figure 1: False-colored scanning electron micrograph of the device. The purple and green structures represent the aluminum gates. Six RIKEN physicists succeeded in entangling three silicon-based spin qubits using the device. Credit: 2021 RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science

A three-qubit entangled state has been realized in a fully controllable array of spin qubits in silicon.

An all-RIKEN team has increased the number of silicon-based spin qubits that can be entangled from two to three, highlighting the potential of spin qubits for realizing multi-qubit quantum algorithms.

Quantum computers have the potential to leave conventional computers in the dust when performing certain types of calculations. They are based on quantum bits, or qubits, the quantum equivalent of the bits that conventional computers use.

Although less mature than some other qubit technologies, tiny blobs of silicon known as silicon quantum dots have several properties that make them highly attractive for realizing qubits. These include long coherence times, high-fidelity electrical control, high-temperature operation, and great potential for scalability. However, to usefully connect several silicon-based spin qubits, it is crucial to be able to entangle more than two qubits, an achievement that had evaded physicists until now.

Seigo Tarucha (second from right) and his co-workers have realized a three-qubit entangled state in a fully controllable array of spin qubits in silicon. Credit: 2021 RIKEN

Seigo Tarucha and five colleagues, all at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, have now initialized and measured a three-qubit array in silicon with high fidelity (the probability that a qubit is in the expected state). They also combined the three entangled qubits in a single device.

This demonstration is a first step toward extending the capabilities of quantum systems based on spin qubits. Two-qubit operation is good enough to perform fundamental logical calculations, explains Tarucha. But a three-qubit system is the minimum unit for scaling up and implementing error correction.

The teams device consisted of a triple quantum dot on a silicon/silicongermanium heterostructure and is controlled through aluminum gates. Each quantum dot can host one electron, whose spin-up and spin-down states encode a qubit. An on-chip magnet generates a magnetic-field gradient that separates the resonance frequencies of the three qubits, so that they can be individually addressed.

The researchers first entangled two of the qubits by implementing a two-qubit gatea small quantum circuit that constitutes the building block of quantum-computing devices. They then realized three-qubit entanglement by combining the third qubit and the gate. The resulting three-qubit state had a remarkably high state fidelity of 88%, and was in an entangled state that could be used for error correction.

This demonstration is just the beginning of an ambitious course of research leading to a large-scale quantum computer. We plan to demonstrate primitive error correction using the three-qubit device and to fabricate devices with ten or more qubits, says Tarucha. We then plan to develop 50 to 100 qubits and implement more sophisticated error-correction protocols, paving the way to a large-scale quantum computer within a decade.

Reference: Quantum tomography of an entangled three-qubit state in silicon by Kenta Takeda, Akito Noiri, Takashi Nakajima, Jun Yoneda, Takashi Kobayashi and Seigo Tarucha, 7 June 2021, Nature Nanotechnology.DOI: 10.1038/s41565-021-00925-0

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Quantum Computing Breakthrough: Entanglement of Three Spin Qubits Achieved in Silicon - SciTechDaily

Dr Najwa Sidqi, Knowledge Transfer Manager of Quantum Technologies at KTN, explains that, despite the media focus on computing, quantum technologies are far broader than you might think, and they are set to impact the world dramatically

Throughout history, there have been revolutionary technological innovations that have changed the way the world operates and quantum technology is set to be the next of these developments. While quantum computing is regularly discussed in the media, it is largely hogging the limelight thats right, the scope of quantum tech is far broader than just increasing computing power beyond anything that is currently available. With some of it very close to the market, its quite strange that we dont hear about all the other elements of quantum technology that are soon going to change our lives.

In recent years, the advancement of technology has been seen through our ability to shrink things down and get more processing power out of a smaller surface area. The problem is, there is a limit to how small we can go while we use electrons as our basic building block of computing (literally the difference between a 1 and a 0 to a computer). If, however, we were able to utilise smaller subatomic particles, such as photons, we could increase the power of our technology considerably.

But as weve learnt to manipulate and measure the energy of individual photons, weve come to realise that its applications go beyond simply boosting the processing power of our PCs. And thats why quantum technology is broader than quantum computing.

So, why does computing take up so much of the focus? Its simple really, the benefits of quantum computing are easy to get your head around and apply to just about every sector. All industries, from finance to construction and nuclear energy to farming, require at least some level of computing.

The other key reason is that its the big names in IT, Google, IBM and Microsoft, that are driving the development of quantum computing, each devoting huge amounts of resource to it and generating a lot of media interest too.

So, what are some other applications of quantum technology? Well, thats the exciting thing. The applications are enormous and could well be endless.

Right now, theres exciting work being done in quantum communication, which allows for infinitely more complex data encryption than what is currently available.

Quantum sensing is another incredible field of research and development that will take our ability to precisely measure electromagnetic waves, fields and forces so much further forward that its hard to comprehend the impact on scientific understanding.

Quantum imaging has the potential to revolutionise metrology in a number of fields, with applications in gas leak detection to non-invasive in vivo imaging in healthcare. So, how far off into the distant future are these technologies of tomorrow? Well, not too distant at all, in fact theyre already being commercialised.

Companies such as QLM Technology use a quantum gas imaging LIDAR to detect and monitor greenhouse gases. The photon-precise sensor allows organisations to effectively monitor and map the locations and flow rates of gas leaks with high-sensitivity imaging that shows plume shape and concentration.

Likewise, ID Quantique, based in Switzerland, is already leading the world in quantum-safe encryption solutions. Their products are in use by governments, enterprises and research labs across the world.

OK, yes, quantum computing is very exciting, but its not the only quantum technology thats going to improve our lives. There are exciting developments occurring throughout the field of quantum technology which deserve the same amount of attention, and theyre right around the corner!

If youre interested in quantum R&D, theUK National Quantum Technologies Showcaseis taking place on Friday 5th November in the Business Design Centre, London. It will bring together around 60 of the UKs most exciting projects from across the Quantum landscape. The event will also be streamed live for virtual attendees. Exhibitors can register nowhere and delegates will be able register in September, Id love to see you there.

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Quantum More Than Just Computing - Todayuknews - Todayuknews

The installation of memory and repeater devices in space, to enable use of the quantum internet, have been proposed in research by the University of Strathclyde and an international collaboration.

The study suggests that quantum memories (QM), which store information in quantum form, and repeaters, which are used in the transmission of the information, can be deployed to facilitate use of advanced internet technology. This is done through distribution of quantum entanglement, a phenomenon in which two particles are interlinked, potentially at vast distances from each other.

The research showed that satellites equipped with QMs provided entanglement distribution rates which were three orders of magnitude faster than those from fibre-based repeaters or space systems without QMs.

The study has been published in the journal npj Quantum Information. It was led by Humboldt University in Berlin and also involved the Institute of Optical Sensor Systems of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA).

Dr Daniel Oi, Senior Lecturer in Strathclydes Department of Physics, a partner in the research, said: We show in this paper that this method would have much higher performance than previously proposed schemes and we identify promising physical systems with which to implement it.

The work is connected to wider work at Strathclyde on Quantum Technologies, and in particular Space Quantum Communication research that includes several space missions due to be launched in the next few years.

Global-scale quantum communication links will form the backbone of the quantum internet. Exponential loss in optical fibres means that there is no realistic application of this beyond a few hundred kilometres but quantum repeaters and space-based systems offer a solution to this limitation.

The proposal in the research uses satellites equipped with QMs in low-earth orbit. It is focused on the use of quantum key distribution (QKD) for encryption and distribution, and of QMs to synchronise detection events which could otherwise have been happening by chance.

The researchers describe their study as a roadmap to realise unconditionally secure quantum communications over global distances with near-term technologies.

The paper states: With the majority of optical links now in space, a major strength of our scheme is its increased robustness against atmospheric losses. We further demonstrate that QMs can enhance secret key rates in general line-of-sight QKD protocols.

AQuantum Technology Cluster is embedded in the Glasgow City Innovation District, an initiative driven by Strathclyde along with Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise, Entrepreneurial Scotland and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. It is envisaged as a global place for quantum industrialisation, attracting companies to co-locate, accelerate growth, improve productivity and access world-class research technology and talent at Strathclyde.

The University of Strathclyde is the only academic institution that has been a partner in all four EPSRC funded Quantum Technology Hubs in both phases of funding. The Hubs are in: Sensing and Timing; Quantum Enhanced Imaging; Quantum Computing and Simulation, and Quantum Communications Technologies.

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Memory devices on satellites to enable the quantum internet - University of Strathclyde

06 September 2021 | Alan Burkitt-Gray

Traditional PKI methods of encrypting data are about to fall to the onslaught of quantum computing. Arqit, a start-up led by David Williams thinks it has a quantum-based solution, he tells Alan Burkitt-Gray

A start-up company that is expected to be valued at US$1.4 billion by the end of August is launching its quantum-based telecoms encryption service in the middle of July. Arqit, founded by satellite entrepreneur David Williams, is launching QuantumCloud, a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for telecoms, including consumer, industrial and defence internet of things (IoT), he tells me.

Early customers, including BT and other telcos that he doesnt want to name, have already signed contracts and used the cyber security software, but Arqit is likely to be thrust into greater prominence imminently, when a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company (Spac) buys it in a deal that will value it at $1.4 billion.

Williams and a small number of co-founders will own 45%, he tells me a stake that will be worth $630 million to him and his colleagues.

A former banker, Williams, who is now chairman of Arqit, was founder and CEO of Avanti, a UK-based company that runs a fleet of geostationary satellites called Hylas with government, military and commercial customers. He left Avanti in August 2017 and a month later set up Arqit.

Being the founder of two satellite companies is a pretty remarkable record after seven years working for three banks following a degree in economics and politics. (He also notes that he was the yard-of-ale champion at the University of Leeds.)

However, his first start-up, Avanti Communications, has not fared well over the past year, long after Williamss departure. In February 2021 its existing junior lenders injected $30 million of new capital, and its so-called super senior facility, which was due for repayment in February, was extended, but only to the end of January 2022.

Existential threat

But Arqit has moved into a completely different market, addressing something the company calls an existential threat to the hyperconnected world. Why? The legacy encryption that we all use, designed in the 1980s, has done a great job but is now failing us, says Arqit on its website. It was never intended for use in our hyper-connected world. The breaches caused are seen around us daily.

At the same time, there is a bigger problem. Quantum computing now poses an existential threat to cyber security for everyone. As a result, the world must begin a global upgrade cycle to replace all encryption technologies, an upgrade unlike anything we have seen before, says the company.

Dont bother patching and mending, says Arqit. Dont take risks with incremental improvements to public key encryption which is no longer fit for purpose.

Encryption using public key infrastructure (PKI) emerged from the communications intelligence community around 1971 in work by James Ellis at the UKs Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and was then developed further in 1976 through work in the US and Israel by Whit Diffie and Martin Hellman and separately by Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman (known, from their initials, as RSA).

So, the idea is virtually half a century old. But in that time, certainly in the past decade, it has done us well. If the URL of a website starts https://, you know its encrypted to those 1970s standards. It means we are reasonably confident we can type our credit card details into a hotel, theatre, travel or shopping site. Messaging apps such as Signal and WhatsApp use encryption based on these PKI principles.

No one trusts PKI

However, no one trusts PKI any more, says Williams. The safest way of delivering keys to a battlefield is now to put them on a dongle and fly them in by helicopter.

At the heart of the problem is the fact that quantum computers are coming, and quantum computers are fast. Diffie and Hellman, and the RSA trio, calculated that if it took weeks or months to decrypt a message, PKI was secure. Breaking the code would be computationally infeasible, to use the term the crypto community likes.

By perhaps as soon as next year, quantum computers will be able to work so fast that they will have decrypted the text in a usable period of time. The challenge will no longer be computationally infeasible. Someone intercepting a transaction could find your credit card details within an hour or so, and use them. So, thats why there is pressure to upgrade to a new system of key exchange, a replacement for PKI.

However, the security people have something more to worry about. Many suspect that for years governments and other organisations have been squirrelling away in their vaults traffic that is encrypted to current standards, knowing that, any time soon, they will be able to crack it.

Think of all those politicians, on all sides of the global political divides, who have been conspiring via WhatsApp. Think of all those whistleblowers who have leaked information to law enforcement authorities or journalists via Signal. Think of all those criminal organisations that have been using Telegram for their plans.

Lemon juice and milk

Thats why PKI, the current crypto infrastructure, is facing what Arqit calls an existential threat. Pretty soon, it will be as outmoded as writing Xf buubdl bu ebxo upnpsspx* in lemon juice or milk and sending it via carrier pigeon. Dont bother with minor fixes, says Arqit. Its wrong to patch and mend, or to take risks.

The future lies in symmetric keys, with a new way of distributing them. Symmetric keys are provably secure against any attack, including quantum computing, says the company.

The problem is that, until now, there has been no safe way to distribute them. Arqit says that it offers a method to create those keys at scale, securely, at any kind of endpoint device. We have invented a method of creating unbreakable encryption keys locally, both at the edge and in the cloud, says Williams.

Arqit has a solution. Its called Arq19, pretty much for the same reason Covid-19 has that suffix: 2019 was our Eureka moment, he smiles.

These are systems he calls global and trustless, a confusing term. It seems to mean you cant trust it, but what Williams and Arqit mean is that you dont have to trust it, as keys will never be stored in any system, so they cannot be stolen, but they can be put on devices within less than half a second to enable a high level of security.

We create hardware storage modules in a number of places he says London, New York, Sydney, for example. But those arent the keys. They are clues, a process involving shared secrets to create brand-new symmetrical encryption keys. No, I dont understand either; but how many people in 1936 understood Turings famous paper, On Computable Numbers, which started the computer revolution? (Turing went on to work during World War Two at GCHQs predecessor at Bletchley Park, in what is now the English city of Milton Keynes.)

Arqit can deliver its keys in unlimited group sizes, says Williams. The traditional PKI approach is for two-way communications Alice and Bob, in the crypto communitys terminology.

But what Williams is looking for is a system that will work with Alice, Bob, Catherine, Dave, Eve and a whole telephone directory.

For example, says Williams, they can deliver keys to international telecoms networks, and we can change the key every second if we want. He says that will result in ultra-secure software defined networks (SDNs).

We can deliver quantum keys in a manner thats global and trustless, says Williams. The company will use a small fleet of satellites, weighing 300kg each, that is being built by QinetiQ, a company formed 20 years ago by the privatisation of part of the UK governments Defence Evaluation and Research Agency.

BT has an exclusive deal to distribute Arqits QuantumCloud services in the UK, and the Japanese firm Sumitomo has a deal as the first big international customer, says Williams.

It is working with telcos to encrypt traffic on Japanese fibre cables, he adds.

These are contracts with distributors that have been signed, but the companys first contract with a corporate user went live in June, he says, although he will not name the partner, except that it is a big global corporation. It is an enterprise customer and is not BT.

The eventual market will include the internet of things (IoT) and connected cars, enterprise and connectivity, he said. Cost will be low, says Williams. Users will pay a tiny fraction of a dollar for each key created.

Heir to Turing

Williams has gathered around him a range of technical, crypto and management talent. CTO and co-founder with Williams is David Bestwick, who was also a co-founder and CTO of Avanti. Theres a chief cryptographer who was at GCHQ: think of David Shiu as the inheritor of the tradition founded by Turing 80 years ago.

There are other ex-GCHQ people, too, and a retired air vice-marshal and a former lieutenant general in the US Air Force. And more, including experts in telecoms, IT and a chief software engineer who was at McAfee. And a former head of operations at 10 Downing Street.

These people are well connected. Well see what they achieve.

Though, will we be able to find out, or will it all be encrypted?

*Xf buubdl bu ebxo upnpsspx means just We attack at dawn tomorrow, using the so-called Caesar cipher, as reputedly used by the Roman dictator

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Future in the cloud for encryption - Capacity Media