Quantum News

01 Dec 2022:

Quantum information traveled across a quantum system in what could be understood as traversing a wormhole. A wormhole is a bridge between two remote spacetime regions. This experiment performed on the Sycamore quantum processor device at Google opens the doors to future experiments with quantum computers. The Sycamore 53-qubit quantum processor allows researchers to send signals “through the wormhole”.

This opens up the possibility of future quantum gravity experiments with larger quantum computers. The work is supported by a Department of Energy Office of High Energy Physics QuantISED program grant.

30 Nov 2022: Researchers used Google’s Sycamore quantum computer to simulate a holographic wormhole, demonstrating how information might travel through it via quantum teleportation, which could aid in understanding and developing a theory of quantum gravity.

17 Nov 2022:

A quantum computer has run the largest quantum program yet. The computer made errors, but a mathematical method was able to extract a meaningful result anyway. This error-mitigation technique could help quantum computers become more useful than their imperfect hardware would otherwise allow them to be. IBM’s quantum computer had qubits made from tiny wires that conduct electricity perfectly. Superconducting qubits are typically programmed by being hit with pulses of microwaves, so running the new program was equivalent to programming a microwave pulse sequence.

09 Nov 2022:

IBM’s Osprey quantum processor has 433 qubits, up from the 127 qubits of its 2021 Eagle processor. The company plans to hit the 4,000-qubit stage with its Kookaburra processor in 2025.

22 Oct 2022: California-based SandboxAQ acquired French startup Cryptosense to bolster its post-quantum cryptography capabilities, leveraging Cryptosense’s expertise in detecting and correcting cryptographic vulnerabilities, with the aim of accelerating the deployment of quantum-safe solutions globally.

03 Oct 2022:

Cloudflare has launched post-quantum cryptography support for all websites and APIs served through its network. This will introduce quantum computer-proof encryption for all sites using Cloudflare, which accounts for 19.1% of all websites according to W3Techs. Researchers estimate the market for such solutions will be worth $476.8 million by 2030.

Cloudflare isn’t the only CDN provider looking to secure the Internet from quantum computing threats. Other vendors like PQShield, which announced raising $20 million in funding earlier this year, are leveraging post-quantum cryptography to enable enterprises to develop secure cryptographic solutions for messaging platforms, apps and mobile technologies.

03 Oct 2022:

Quantum computing company Quantinuum made three more announcements at IEEE Quantum Week 2022. Announcements include another quantum volume record, a new method to make two-qubit gates with higher fidelity and greater efficiency, and a milestone achievement of more than a half-million downloads of its software.

1. Highlight 1: Shuttling ion pairs through intersections and negotiating 90 degree turns: It may not sound significant, but this research provides the capability to execute Quantinuum’s long term roadmap for future generations of H-series quantum computers. Ion trap researchers have been working on this problem for years. Prior to Quantinuum’s research, it was believed that the only way for paired ions to move through zones was to first separate the pair, then move them through junctions one at a time. That solution would have significantly increased processing time.
2. Highlight 2: Closing the gap on fault-tolerant quantum error correction: Fault tolerant quantum error correction will make it possible to build quantum computers with enough qubits to solve problems far beyond the reach of today’s supercomputers. Quantinuum researchers were able to construct a logical entangling circuit that had a higher fidelity than its physical counterpart.

17 other significant improvements over the last 12 months are:

21 Sep 2022:

“We believed we had cracked the code for building a million-qubit quantum computer,” Dr. Shadbolt said. “Even though that’s a huge number, the secret seemed simple. All we had to do was use the same process as the one being used to put billions of transistors into cell phones. We felt a large quantum computer wouldn’t exist in our lifetime unless we figured out how to build it in a semiconductor foundry. That idea has been turned into reality. We are now building quantum chips next to laptops and cell phone chips on the GlobalFoundries 300-millimeter platform.”

16 Sep 2022: Rigetti Computing aims to achieve “quantum advantage” with its fourth-generation quantum computers, Ankaa and Lyra, in 2023, despite investor skepticism and competition from tech giants like IBM, by expanding its technology suite, improving error correction, and forming key partnerships.

25 Aug 2022:

Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc revealed its first quantum computer on Thursday and is ready to make it available to external users, joining the global race to apply the technology to practical uses.