Mediaboss Marketing

Ever wondered why your credit score is what it is? Have you stored private information in the cloud that you want to remain that way? Thought about investing in cryptocurrency? Worried about cyber warfare?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, quantum computing plays a role in your lifeor at least, it will when its usage becomes practical enough to run the systems that run our daily lives.

Thats where Ryan Behunins work comes in.

Behunin, an assistant professor of applied physics and materials science and a researcher in NAUs Center for Materials Interfaces in Research & Applications (MIRA!), explores fundamental questions about the interaction of light, sound and matter. His latest research project, Controlling noise in quantum devices with light and sound, was funded with an almost $500,000 NSF CAREER grant, which supports early-career faculty in their groundbreaking research.

This work targets challenges to realizing practical quantum computers by helping the building blocks of quantum computers, termed qubits, perform better. That is critical because quantum computers have the potential to solve certain problems that are not tractable using traditional computing technology. The challenge is that, currently, the technology is too vulnerable to disturbances in the environment that corrupt the information stored in quantum computerstoo full of noise, as it wereto reach its full potential.

Behunins goal is to quiet that noise.

Theoretically, quantum physics can enable powerful new computers that achieve massive exponential speedups over traditional forms of computing, permitting calculations that currently are intractable Behunin said. Practically, however, the very quantumfeatures that enable these remarkable properties are rapidly erased by process termed decoherence, which is not unlike the way a plucked guitar string eventually relaxes.

As a result, decoherence limits the lifetime of quantum states, posing challenges for practical quantum technologies. This project will show how decoherence can be controlled by manipulating sound waves.

Noise in quantum mechanics operates much like static on the radio, making it difficult to hear the signal. The most problematic source of noise for many quantum devices is from two-level tunneling states, or TLSs. Theyre not well understood, but they are everywhere, and physicists have yet to find an effective way to quiet TLSs. This research will leverage the strong interaction between TLSs and sound waves to develop new techniques that control and reduce this source of noise.

The answers Behunin is looking for have implications for cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and areas like drug development; faster, more accessible quantum computing could mean faster and more affordable creation of drugs or other organic materials.

We can take a big step toward practical quantum technology if we can show how noise can be controlled and reduced in quantum devices, Behunin said.

This project also will focus on giving research opportunities to students from populations that are historically underrepresented in the field of physics, including women and minority groups. In addition to its groundbreaking research, MIRA!s mission is to increase diversity in these fields. Recruiting students into labs like Behunins is a big part of that mission, as is outreach to K-12 students to get them excited about STEM research long before they enter college. Thats why part of this project includes Behunin teaching a free mini course on quantum physics at Tynkertopia, a nonprofit STEAM center located in Flagstaffs Sunnyside neighborhood.

Scientifically, were trying to answer deep materials science questionsnamely, what are TLSs and how can we get rid of them? Behunin said. With regard to diversity, this project aims to engage communities that are underrepresented in the sciences. The goal is to increase access and exposure to quantum science in our underserved communities.

Learn more about MIRA!.

Heidi Toth | NAU Communications(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu

Link:
How a physicist aims to reduce the noise in quantum computing The NAU Review - NAU News

SYDNEY, March 30, 2022 Q-CTRL, a global leader in developing useful quantum technologies, today announced a partnership with The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerlands largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences, to pioneer R&D in the scale-up of quantum computers. The strategic partnership will leverage Q-CTRL and PSIs combined expertise to deliver transformational capabilities to the broader research community.

This partnership builds on the collaboration of PSI and ETH Zurich, one of the worlds premier public research universities and a quantum science powerhouse, who formed the ETH Zurich PSI Quantum Computing Hub in May 2021 on PSIs campus in Villigen. Both are working to translate groundbreaking quantum computing research into building systems at scale. Theyve now partnered with Q-CTRL to provide the critical infrastructure software tools for system characterization, AI-based automation, and hardware optimization that are essential for large-scale quantum computing to become reality.

Q-CTRLs focus on solving the automation and performance challenges in large-scale quantum computing align perfectly with the PSI Quantum Computing Hubs mission, said Q-CTRL Founder and CEO Professor Michael J. Biercuk. Were honored to partner with the exceptional engineers and researchers at PSI to combine their system engineering prowess with infrastructure software to truly move the research field forward.

As PSI seeks to scale up quantum hardware, Q-CTRLs unique expertise in quantum control and AI-based automation makes the company a natural fit to help accelerate the pathway to the first useful quantum computers. Both teams have extensive experience in quantum computing based on trapped ions, including specialized approaches in error correction leveraging the unique properties of trapped ions. Together, PSI and Q-CTRL will aim to solve the critical challenges enabling large-scale, quantum-error-corrected quantum computing to become a reality.

Q-CTRLs hardware agnostic, yet hardware-aware tools will be very valuable in finding optimal control solutions that ensure uniform performance across larger qubit arrays, said Dr. Cornelius Hempel, Group head, Ion Trap Quantum Computing, Paul Scherrer Institute. As we go to larger and larger machines and continuous operation of testbeds, efficient and automated tuneup and calibration procedures become an essential aspect of day-to-day operations its just not possible to continue using brute-force approaches at scale. Our team is very excited to leverage the tools the Q-CTRL team has developed in this space.

The computational power of quantum computing is expected to deliver transformational capabilities in applications ranging from drug discovery and enterprise logistics to finance. However, the underlying hardware is extremely unstable and fragile, hampering these machines from reaching their full potential. Q-CTRL is focused on delivering hardware-agnostic and fully automated error-suppressing enterprise software that will enable useful quantum computing for organizations around the world. Its team was recently awarded a US SBIR grant from the Department of Energy focused on quantum computer automation, and this partnership will build on those research developments.

To learn more about Q-CTRL, please visit: q-ctrl.com.

About Q-CTRL

Q-CTRL is building the quantum technology industry by overcoming the fundamental challenge in the field hardware error and instability. Q-CTRLs quantum control infrastructure software for R&D professionals and quantum computing end users delivers the highest performance error-correcting and suppressing techniques globally, and provides a unique capability accelerating the pathway to the first useful quantum computers. This foundational technology also applies to a new generation of quantum sensors, and enables Q-CTRL to shape and underpin every application of quantum technology.

Q-CTRL has assembled the worlds foremost team of expert quantum-control engineers, providing solutions to many of the most advanced quantum computing and sensing teams globally. Q-CTRL has been an inaugural member of the IBM Quantum Startup network since 2018, and recently announced a partnership with Transport for NSW, delivering its enterprise infrastructure software to transport data scientists exploring quantum computing. Q-CTRL is funded by SquarePeg Capital, Sierra Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Data Collective, Horizons Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Airbus Ventures, and Ridgeline Partners. The company has international headquarters in Sydney, Los Angeles, and Berlin.

About PSI

The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI is the largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences in Switzerland, conducting cutting-edge research in three main fields: matter and materials, energy and the environment and human health. PSI develops, builds and operates complex large research facilities such as the synchrotron Swiss Light Source (SLS), the free-electron X-ray laser SwissFEL and the SINQ neutron source. PSI employs 2100 people and is primarily financed by the Swiss Confederation. The institution provides access to its large research facilities via a User Service to researchers from universities, other research centers and industry.

Source: Q-CTRL

Here is the original post:
Q-CTRL Partners with The Paul Scherrer Institute to Support the Scale-Up of Quantum Computers - HPCwire

While Im convinced 2011 will ultimately go down in history as the year the groundbreaking motion picture Cowboys & Aliens was released, it bears mentioning that it was also the year in which the first commercial quantum computer officially went online.

You can dispute whether Daniel Craigs turn as an alien-fighting gold thief with amnesia is worthy of such high praise, but theres no debating that D-Waves a bonafide pioneer in the world of quantum computing.

Dubbed the D-Wave One (two years before the Xbox One gaming system came out), the companys first production model was a quantum annealing system designed to attack optimization problems.

Over a decade later, the company is working on the Advantage Two. Not counting prototypes, itll be the outfits sixth major quantum computing system.

Advantage Two will be a quantum-annealing system featuring a whopping 7,000 functioning qubits.

For folks whove followed quantum computing news, that 7,000 functioning qubits figure might look like a typo. The largest gate-based model were aware of is QuEras 256-qubit neutral atom system.

But D-Waves system uses a different technology.

As Rebel Brown, a marketer whose blog I found at random, explains quite eloquently:

One way to understand the difference between the two types of quantum computer is that the gate model quantum computers require problems to be expressed in terms of quantum gates, and the quantum annealing computer requires problems to be expressed in the language of operations research problems.

But dont just take Browns word for it. The two kinds of quantum computers are as different as night and day. Where gate-based models are still more research than function, D-Waves annealing systems have been solving problems for decades.

As Murray Thom, VP of product management for D-Wave, put it in a recent interview with Neural:

Our focus is 100% on commercial use-cases and bringing value to our customers.

And that means using quantum computers to provide solutions right now. Quantum annealing does that because, as Thom told us, its really the only way to approach optimization problems.

However there are more than just optimization problems out there that need solving. Advantage Two should be able to, for example, help medical facilities optimize nurse and physician schedules across massive geographic areas during disasters and outbreaks.

But it wont be as useful as a gate-based quantum computer when it comes to running quantum simulations for challenging problems such as drug discovery.

Ideally, youd be able to use both. But gate-based systems are experimental at best. Until recently, with the launch of its Clarity Roadmap, D-Waves been content to be a quantum-annealing company in the streets and a cutting-edge research org in the lab.

That all changed last year when D-Wave unveiled its ambitions to combine gate-based technologies with annealing systems using cloud-based portals and tailored software solutions.

Thom told us that D-Wave is convinced that the time is now. Not just for its own stockholders (the companys in the process of going public) but for the entire industry.

According to Thom:

From 2017-2018 to now there has been this explosion in quantum computing tools and getting people access to them. This next phase is going to be the rapid expansion point.

The quantum computing market is expected to triple in the next three years. While theres certainly room for everyone, not all market shares are created equal.

D-Waves already secured its position as the front-runner in quantum optimization solutions. The addition of gate-based systems through separate or integrated stacks could potentially provide its customers with the worlds only one-stop shop for spooky-action-at-a-distance-as-a-service.

Neurals take: Itll be interesting to see if D-Waves ambitions and experience can overcome Googles hunger and bankroll or IBMs sheer tenacity when it comes to pressing an advantage in the field.

At the end of the day, a rising tide lifts all vessels. Were probably further away from quantum computing companies competing for clients than we are from useful gate-based systems. For now at least, theres plenty of quantum problems to go around.

Read more:
D-Wave's cross platform quantum services are bridge to the future - The Next Web

Terra Quantum Extends Their Series A Round Funding to $75 Million

We had reported in January that Terra Quantum had raised a Series A venture funding of $60 Million. They have now reported that the funding was extended and an additional $15 million was added to this round bringing the total to $75 million. The funds will be used to strengthen Terra Quantums offering around data cryptography and cybersecurity. The company also announced the development of a ferroelectric field-effect transistor with negative capacitance. Although it is not clear if this development would be applicable for a quantum computer, the company indicates it could have an impact in diagnostic imaging in the health care field because it would enable medical diagnostics using terahertz photons that may be less invasive than higher energy photons such as x-rays and UV rays. You can access Terra Quantums announcement about the increased Series A funding and the new technical development here.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Go here to see the original:
Terra Quantum Extends Their Series A Round Funding to $75 Million - Quantum Computing Report

Image: Cisco Talos

Quantum technology that the worlds superpowers are developing, if successful, will render many current encryption algorithms obsolete overnight. Whoever has access to this technology will be able to read almost any encrypted data or message.

Organizations need to pay attention to this emerging technology and take stock of the encryption algorithms in use, while planning to eventually upgrade these. Quantum computers already exist as proof-of-concept systems. For the moment, none are powerful enough to crack current encryption, but the private and public sectors are investing billions of dollars to create powerful systems that will revolutionize computing.

Nobody knows when a powerful quantum computer will become available, but we can predict the effects on security and prepare defenses.

Classical computers operate using bits of information. These bits exist in one of two states, either 1 or 0. Quantum computers operate in a different, but analogous way, operating with qubits. A qubit exists in a mixed state that is both partly 1 and partly 0 at the same time, only adopting a final state at the point when it is measured. This feature allows quantum computers to perform certain calculations much faster than current computers.

Quantum computers cannot solve problems for which current systems are unable to find solutions. However, some calculations take too long for practical application with current computers. With quantum computings speed, these calculations could become trivial to perform.

One example is finding the prime factors of large numbers. Any number can be expressed as multiples of prime numbers, but finding these prime numbers currently takes an incredibly long time. Public-key encryption algorithms rely on this fact to ensure the security of the data they encrypt.

It is the impractical amount of time involved, not the impossibility of the calculation, which secures public-key encryption. An approach named Shors algorithm can rapidly find such prime factors but can only be executed on a sizable quantum computer.

We know that we can break current public-key encryption by applying Shors algorithm, but we are waiting for a suitably powerful quantum computer to become available to implement this. Once someone develops a suitable quantum computer, the owner could break any system reliant on current public-key encryption.

SEE: Google Chrome: Security and UI tips you need to know (TechRepublic Premium)

Creating a working, sizable quantum computer is not a trivial matter.A handful of proof-of-concept quantum computing systems have been developed in the private sector. Although quantum research has been identified as a strategic priority for many countries, the path forward is less clear. Nevertheless, China has made quantum technology part of their current five-year plan and is known to have developed functional quantum systems to detect stealth aircraft and submarines, and have deployed quantum communication with satellites.

We know the difficulties in creating a sizable quantum system. What we dont know is if one of the global superpowers has overcome these and succeeded. We can expect that whoever is first to create such a system will be keen to keep it secret. Nevertheless, we can anticipate clues that will indicate a threat actor has developed a functional system.

Anyone possessing the worlds most powerful decryption computer will find it difficult to resist the temptation to put it to use. We would expect to see a threat actor seeking to collect large quantities of encrypted data in transit and data at rest, possibly by masquerading as criminal attacks.

Currently, experts do not observe the volume of network redirection attacks that would be expected for the large-scale collection of data, nor do we see the large-scale exfiltration of stored encrypted data. This is not to say that such attacks dont happen, but they are less frequent or audacious than might be expected if a state-sponsored threat actor was collecting data at scale.

Nobody knows when current encryption techniques will become obsolete. But we can prepare by upgrading encryption algorithms to those believed to be resistant to quantum attack. NIST is preparing standards for post-quantum encryption. In the meantime, the NSA has produced guidelines that offer guidance before relevant standards are published.

Encrypted, archived data is also at risk. Organizations may wish to consider if old data is still required. Wiping obsolete data may be the best defense against having the data stolen.

Until a sizable quantum computer is built and made available for research, we cannot be certain about the capabilities of such a system. It is possible that physical constraints will mean that such a system is not practical to build. Certainly, programming quantum computers will require new software engineering practices. It is also possible that programming shortcuts will be found that allow the practical breaking of encryption with a smaller quantum computer than currently expected.

Post-quantum standards and advice from governmental entities are welcome to guide organizations in transitioning to a quantum-secure environment. However, such advice may not reflect the state-of-the-art of malicious actors.

SEE: Password breach: Why pop culture and passwords dont mix (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

At some point, many current encryption algorithms will become instantly vulnerable to attack. In anticipation of this moment, organizations should take stock of the encryption algorithms they use and the associated key lengths. Where possible, systems should migrate to use AES-256 encryption, use SHA-384 or SHA-512 for hashing, and extend key lengths beyond 3072 bits as an interim measure.

Anyone implementing encryption software should consider the algorithm life span and provide users with the ability to change encryption strength and algorithm as necessary.

Quantum computing is a major focus of research and investment. Physical constraints mean that current chip architectures are difficult to advance further. Practical quantum computer systems will bring large gains in computing power and allow new computational techniques to be applied to solve problems that are currently impractical to calculate.

One application of a new quantum computer will be breaking encryption. When such a system is developed, its existence is likely to be kept secret. However, there are likely to be indicators in the actions of sophisticated threat actors that will betray the systems operation.

Reviewing and improving encryption implementations well in advance of the deployment of a functional quantum computer is vital to ensure the continued confidentiality of information. Take stock of encryption currently in use and plan how to upgrade this if necessary.

We might not be able to predict when such a system will be deployed against us, but we can prepare in advance our response.

For more information, visit the Cisco Newsrooms Q&A with Martin.

Author Martin Lee is technical lead of security research within Talos, Ciscos threat intelligence and research organization. As a researcher within Talos, he seeks to improve the resilience of the Internet and awareness of current threats through researching system vulnerabilities and changes in the threat landscape. With 19 years of experience within the security industry, he is CISSP certified, a Chartered Engineer, and holds degrees from the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Paris and Oxford.

Read this article:
Is 2022 the year encryption is doomed? - TechRepublic