Archive for the ‘Quantum Computer’ Category

Google’s Sycamore and the Quantum Supremacy Milestone – yTech

Summary: Googles quantum computer, Sycamore, represents a significant breakthrough in computing, having demonstrated quantum supremacy by performing a calculation far beyond the capability of classical computers. This article explores the specifics of quantum computing technology, its current challenges, and potential future impacts, including energy sustainability and security implications.

Quantum computing is entering the spotlight as a powerful technology poised to outstrip traditional computing methods. Googles Sycamore quantum computer has catalyzed this movement by demonstrating quantum supremacy, completing a complex task in mere minutes versus the millennia it would take the best classical supercomputers.

Differing from traditional computers that process bits as zeros or ones, Sycamore operates using qubits. These qubits can exist in a state of superposition, where they can be in multiple states at once, dramatically increasing computational power and speed. Sycamore capitalized on this advantage with its 53 functioning qubits to make history.

While quantum computing is groundbreaking, it is not without its hurdles. Quantum machines are highly sensitive, requiring extremely cold environments for operation to prevent quantum decoherencean event that disrupts the state necessary for quantum calculations. Moreover, maintaining low error rates in quantum gate operations is crucial to preserve accurate results.

The promises of quantum computing extend to energy efficiency since these machines consume drastically less power than their classical counterparts. Only a small fraction of energy is needed for the calculations themselves, with the rest dedicated to maintaining the conditions necessary for the qubits to function.

The roadmap ahead for quantum computing is filled with both opportunities and challenges. Immediate benefits may be seen in fields like material science and complex simulations, but longer-term considerations must center around cybersecurity, ethical use, and international regulations that foster safe and beneficial advancement of quantum technology. Googles Sycamore is therefore not just a stride in computational capability but also a step into a future that demands careful management of powerful new technology.

Quantum Computings Industry and Market Forecast

Quantum computing is rapidly transforming from a theoretical concept to a market of vast potential. By leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics, this technology is poised to revolutionize industries that depend on computational power. Industries such as cryptography, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and materials science are eagerly awaiting the advancements that quantum computers promise, especially in the realms of drug discovery, financial modeling, and optimizing complex systems.

The market for quantum computing is on an upward trajectory, with significant investments from both public and private sectors. Market research forecasts project that the quantum computing market could be worth billions of dollars in the next decade as technology matures and becomes commercially viable. The applications for quantum computing are extensive, with potential to disrupt almost every industry by enabling them to solve complex problems much more efficiently than classical computers.

Key Challenges and Issues

Despite the optimism, quantum computing faces substantial challenges. As indicated by the article, quantum computers operate under delicate conditions that are challenging to maintain. The susceptibility to quantum decoherence and the need for error correction mechanisms make scalability and reliability immediate concerns for the industry.

On top of technical challenges, there are also significant issues regarding data security. Quantum computers hold the power to break many of the current encryption methods, which protects essential communications globally, including in the realms of government and finance. This has led to an increased focus on developing quantum-resistant encryption methods, a pursuit that is now just as crucial as the development of quantum computers themselves.

Additionally, the ethical implications of quantum computing and the consequences of such computational power require attention. The proliferation of quantum technology raises questions about the balance of power, potential weapons development, and the exclusivity of access to such resources.

As the industry evolves, so will the regulations and international policies aimed at governing the use of quantum technologies. Its imperative for the global community to establish a framework to ensure that advances benefit society as a whole and that security risks are mitigated.

For continuous updates and information regarding quantum computing, please visit the official website of Google or the IBM main domain, which are engaged in research and development in this cutting-edge field.

In conclusion, quantum computing promises a future of unparalleled computational potential. The industry is poised to navigate a complex landscape of opportunities and challenges, with market forecasts indicating significant growth and the potential for transformative impacts across a myriad of sectors. Googles Sycamore serves as both a beacon of possibility and a reminder of the responsibilities inherent in ushering in such a profound technological evolution.

Roman Perkowski is a distinguished name in the field of space exploration technology, specifically known for his work on propulsion systems for interplanetary travel. His innovative research and designs have been crucial in advancing the efficiency and reliability of spacecraft engines. Perkowskis contributions are particularly significant in the development of sustainable and powerful propulsion methods, which are vital for long-duration space missions. His work not only pushes the boundaries of current space travel capabilities but also inspires future generations of scientists and engineers in the quest to explore the far reaches of our solar system and beyond.

Continued here:
Google's Sycamore and the Quantum Supremacy Milestone - yTech

Tags:

Encryption shield installed to protect Chinese quantum computer from attack – South China Morning Post

The new methods are to replace the conventional public-key cryptography system, which could be vulnerable in the face of quantum computers with powerful computing capabilities.

01:58

China denies accusations of state-sponsored hacking from US, UK and New Zealand

China denies accusations of state-sponsored hacking from US, UK and New Zealand

The report quoted Dou Menghan, deputy director of the Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Centre, as saying the anti-quantum attack shield was developed and used for the first time by Origin Quantum, the developer of the computer named after the Monkey King of Chinese mythology.

This shows that Chinas home-grown superconducting quantum computer can play both offence and defence in the field of quantum computing, he said.

This is also an important exploration of the application of new data security technologies in China.

The third-generation Wukong is powered by a 72-qubit home-grown superconducting quantum chip, also known as the Wukong chip.

In January, the superfast computer opened remote access to the world, attracting global users from countries such as the US, Bulgaria, Singapore, Japan, Russia and Canada to perform quantum computing tasks.

In traditional computing, a bit is the basic unit of information that represents either zero or one. A quantum bit, or qubit, takes it a step further by being able to represent zero, one, or both simultaneously.

Lawmaker urges China to safeguard tech production chain for a quantum edge

Because quantum computers can simultaneously represent multiple possibilities, they hold theoretical potential for significantly faster and more powerful computation compared to the everyday computers we use now.

But the subatomic particles central to this technology are fragile, short-lived and prone to errors if exposed to minor disturbances from the surroundings. Most quantum computers operate in highly isolated and extremely cold environments to avoid disruption.

The normal operating temperature of the Wukong chip is close to absolute zero, or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius. It is stored in a special fridge before being installed in a vacuum environment for operation.

Read the rest here:
Encryption shield installed to protect Chinese quantum computer from attack - South China Morning Post

Tags:

America is the undisputed world leader in quantum computing even though China spends 8x more on the technology … – Fortune

Processors that crunch through supercomputing tasks in the blink of an eye. Batteries that recharge in a flash. Accelerated drug discovery, encryption and decryption, and machine learning. These are just a few of the possibilities that may be enabled by quantum computing, which harnesses the laws of physics to perform calculations much faster than even the most powerful traditional computers. They all hinge on research here in the United States, the worlds undisputed leader in quantum computing.

How did America become the epicenter of this technological revolution? It didnt happen by accident. Quantum computing and world-class U.S. research universities have grown hand in hand, fostered by a policy environment that encourages scientists and entrepreneurs to commercialize academic research.

Consider our quantum computing company, IonQ. As engineering and physics professors from Duke and the University of Maryland (UMD), we founded the company in 2015 using our research, which was largely funded by the Defense Department and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)a government organization investing in cutting-edge technology for the intelligence community. Weve also received significant funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Energy.

In 2020, we opened a 23,000-square-foot, $5.5 million center in College Park to house our state-of-the-art quantum machinery. The next year, IonQ was valued at $2 billion upon our IPOand became the first publicly traded pure-play quantum hardware and software company.

Along with government financing, we owe much of our success to both UMD and Dukes investment in our quantum research. UMD boasts more than 200 quantum researchers including a Nobel laureate at a joint institute shared between the university and NIST, and has awarded more than 100 doctorates in physics with a quantum focus. Duke recently established the only vertical quantum computing center in the world, which conducts research and development combining every stage of the quantum computing processfrom assembling individual atoms and engineering their electronic controllers to designing quantum algorithms and applications.

But we also owe it to a little-known law, without which none of this would have been possible the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. Before its passage, the federal government owned the patents on inventions resulting from academic research that had received any amount of federal funding. However, the government lacked the capacity to further develop university breakthroughs, so the vast majority simply gathered dust on shelves.

Bayh-Dole allowed universities to own the patents on the inventions of their scientists, which has had a galvanizing impact. Suddenly, academic institutions were incentivized to license those patents to the private sector where they could be transformed into valuable goods and services, while stimulating entrepreneurship among the researchers who came up with those inventions in the first place.

Unfortunately, the federal government may soon undermine the Bayh-Dole systemwhich could massively stifle new advances in quantum computing. The Biden administration just announced that it seeks to use the laws march-in provision to impose price controls on inventions that were originally developed with federal funds if the priceat which the product is currently offered to the public [is] not reasonable. This notion arises from ignorance of the core value in entrepreneurship and commercialization: While the ideas are conceived and tested at universities using federal funding, it is the huge amount of effort invested by the licensee that turns those ideas and patents into useful products and services.

Abusing march-in wouldnt make new technologies more accessible for consumers or anyone else, it would do just the opposite. Devaluing the investment needed to turn these ideas into successful and practical products could disincentivize private-sector companies from taking risks by licensing university research in the first place.

When it comes to quantum computing, that chilling effect on research and development would enormously jeopardize U.S. national security. Our projects received ample funding from defense and intelligence agencies for good reason. Quantum computing may soon become the gold standard technology for codebreaking and defending large computer networks against cyberattacks.

Adopting the proposed march-in framework would also have major implications for our future economic stability. While still a nascent technology today, quantum computings ability to rapidly process huge volumes of data is set to revolutionize business in the coming decades. It may be the only way to capture the complexity needed for future AI and machine learning in, say, self-driving vehicles. It may enable companies to hone their supply chains and other logistical operations, such as manufacturing, with unprecedented precision. It may also transform finance by allowing portfolio managers to create new, superior investment algorithms and strategies.

Given the technologys immense potential, its no mystery why China committed what is believed to be more than $15 billion in 2022 to develop its quantum computing capacitymore than double the budget for quantum computing of EU countries and eight times what the U.S. government plans to spend.

Thankfully, the U.S. still has a clear edge in quantum computingfor now. Our universities attract far more top experts and leaders in the field than any other nations, including Chinas, by a wide margin. Our entrepreneurial startup culture, often bred from the innovation of our universities, is the envy of the world. And unlike Europe, our government incentivizes risk-taking and entrepreneurship through public-private partnerships.

However, if the Biden administration dismantles the law that makes this collaboration possible, theres no guarantee that our global dominance in quantum computing will persist in the long term. That would have devastating second-order effects on our national security and economic future. Computer scientists, ordinary Americans, and the intelligence and defense communities can only hope our officials rethink their proposal.

Jungsang Kim is a professor of ECE and physics at Duke University. Christopher Monroe is a professor of ECE and physics at Duke University and the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2015 they co-founded IonQ, Inc., the first publicly traded pure-play quantum hardware and software company.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs ofFortune.

Link:
America is the undisputed world leader in quantum computing even though China spends 8x more on the technology ... - Fortune

Tags:

Breakthrough promises secure quantum computing at home – University of Oxford

The full power of next-generation quantum computing could soon be harnessed by millions of individuals and companies, thanks to a breakthrough by scientists at Oxford University Physics guaranteeing security and privacy. This advance promises to unlock the transformative potential of cloud-based quantum computing and is detailed in a new study published in the influential U.S. scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

Never in history have the issues surrounding privacy of data and code been more urgently debated than in the present era of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. As quantum computers become more capable, people will seek to use them with complete security and privacy over networks, and our new results mark a step change in capability in this respect.

Quantum computing is developing rapidly, paving the way for new applications which could transform services in many areas like healthcare and financial services. It works in a fundamentally different way to conventional computing and is potentially far more powerful. However, it currently requires controlled conditions to remain stable and there are concerns around data authenticity and the effectiveness of current security and encryption systems.

Several leading providers of cloud-based services, like Google, Amazon, and IBM, already separately offer some elements of quantum computing. Safeguarding the privacy and security of customer data is a vital precursor to scaling up and expending its use, and for the development of new applications as the technology advances. The new study by researchers at Oxford University Physics addresses these challenges.

We have shown for the first time that quantum computing in the cloud can be accessed in a scalable, practical way which will also give people complete security and privacy of data, plus the ability to verify its authenticity, said Professor David Lucas, who co-heads the Oxford University Physics research team and is lead scientist at the UK Quantum Computing and Simulation Hub, led from Oxford University Physics.

In the new study, the researchers use an approach dubbed blind quantum computing, which connects two totally separate quantum computing entities potentially an individual at home or in an office accessing a cloud server in a completely secure way. Importantly, their new methods could be scaled up to large quantum computations.

Using blind quantum computing, clients can access remote quantum computers to process confidential data with secret algorithms and even verify the results are correct, without revealing any useful information. Realising this concept is a big step forward in both quantum computing and keeping our information safe online said study lead Dr Peter Drmota, of Oxford University Physics.

The results could ultimately lead to commercial development of devices to plug into laptops, to safeguard data when people are using quantum cloud computing services.

Researchers exploring quantum computing and technologies at Oxford University Physics have access to the state-of-the-art Beecroft laboratory facility, specially constructed to create stable and secure conditions including eliminating vibration.

Funding for the research came from the UK Quantum Computing and Simulation (QCS) Hub, with scientists from the UK National Quantum Computing Centre, the Paris-Sorbonne University, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Maryland, collaborating on the work.

The study Verifiable blind quantum computing with trapped ions and single photons has been published in Physical Review Letters.

View original post here:
Breakthrough promises secure quantum computing at home - University of Oxford

Tags:

Is Nvidia Also the Best Bet in Quantum Computing Right Now? – The Motley Fool

Is Nvidia Also the Best Bet in Quantum Computing Right Now?  The Motley Fool

See the original post here:
Is Nvidia Also the Best Bet in Quantum Computing Right Now? - The Motley Fool

Tags: