The US Air Force awarded SandboxAQ a small business innovation research (SBIR) contract to research quantum navigation technologies. SandboxAQ will advance research and development for its quantum navigation system, designed to complement the Global Positioning System (GPS) for accurate navigation in environments where the loss of precision GPS may negatively impact operations. The company’s quantum sensor prototype is to be optimised in coordination with the Air Force.
Quantum computing
Researchers discover novel quantum state
A team of researchers from the Institute of Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo in Japan, Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany has discovered a quantum state where water remains liquid even at extremely low temperatures. The team found that the alignment of atoms – one of their central property – did not ‘freeze’, as it would typically happen, but remained in a ‘liquid’ state.
The researchers intended to create a quantum state in which the atomic alignment that is associated with the spins did not order, even at very low temperatures. To achieve this state, they used a special material – a compound of the elements, praseodymium, zirconium, and oxygen.
The new quantum material could serve as a model system to develop new quantum sensors that are highly sensitive.
Researchers explore new ways to improve accuracy of quantum computers
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Delft University of Technology, and the University of New South Wales have developed ‘wiggle wells’ to improve the accuracy of quantum computers. The researchers showed that tweaking a qubit`s physical structure, known as a silicon quantum dot, creates sufficient valley splitting to reduce computing errors.
French bank Crédit Agricole experiments with quantum computing
French bank Crédit Agricole announced that it had conducted two successful experiments for derivatives and credit calculations using quantum computing. The bank partnered with French quantum computer manufacturer Pasqal and Spanish firm Multiverse Computing (which works on quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms).
The two experiments, which started in 2021, focused on evaluating the contribution of an algorithmic approach inspired by quantum computing in two areas: the valuation of financial products and the assessment of credit risks. The bank found that quantum neural networks can be beneficial to these types of calculations, but that the technology is too resource-intensive and involves long processing times. However, the technology can be used to optimise speed and memory is specific algorithmic techniques are applied.
US Department of Energy announces US$9.1 million funding for quantum information science research
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is allocating US$9.1 million to 13 projects dedicated to advancing research in quantum information science (QIS) with relevance to nuclear physics. The projects selected for funding cover the development of next-generation materials and architectures for superconducting qubits, solid state quantum simulators, and quantum optomechanical sensors for improving measurements of optical decay, and other areas.
Scientists find way to improve storage time of quantum information
An international team of scientists from the University of Cambridge, the University of Linz, and the University of Sheffield has announced a breakthrough in retaining the quantum coherence of quantum dot spin qubits.
A major challenge in quantum computing is to find a spin-photon interface that is both good at storing quantum information and efficient at converting it into light. The team found out that ‘in a device constructed with semiconductor materials that have the same lattice parameter, the nuclei “felt” the same environment and behaved in unison. As a result, it is now possible to filter out this nuclear noise and achieve a near two-order magnitude improvement in storage time.’
This new method could allow for improvements in information security, the search for novel materials and chemicals, and the measurements of fundamental physical processes requiring exact temporal synchronisation among sensors.
European Patent Office publishes patent insight report on quantum computing
The European Patent Office (EPO) has published a patent insight report on quantum computing. The report provides an overview of quantum computing at large, while also looking at issues such as physical realisations of quantum computing, quantum error correction and mitigation, and technologies related to quantum computing and artificial intelligence/machine learning.
One of the report’s key findings is that the number of inventions in the field of quantum computing has multiplied over the last decade. In addition, quantum computing inventions show a higher growth rate than in all fields of technology in general. The above-average share of international patent applications in quantum computing suggests high economic expectations related to the technology.
Fujitsu assesses vulnerability of RSA encryption to potential quantum computer threats
Japanese ICT company Fujitsu announced that it had conducted successful trials to evaluate the widely-used RSA encryption for possible vulnerability to code-cracking by quantum computers. Fujitsu conducted the trials in January 2023 using its 39 qubit quantum simulator to assess how difficult it would be for quantum computers to crack existing RSA cryptography. Fujitsu researchers discovered that a fault-tolerant quantum computer with a scale of approximately 10,000 qubits and 2.23 trillion quantum gates would be required to crack RSA, which is much higher than current quantum computing capacities.
Canadian quantum computing company receives CAD$40 million from the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a federal investment of CAD$ 40 million to enable quantum computing company Xanadu to build and commercialise a photonic-based, fault-tolerant quantum computer. Supported through the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund, the project is expected to create over 500 new jobs in the high-tech and quantum computing fields.
The investment is aligned with the goals of the Canadian Quantum Strategy that was published earlier this year.
New quantum computer in Sweden to be made available to industry and researchers
Since 2018, Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology has been running a project to develop a Swedish quantum computer. Currently, the 25 qubits computer is often unavailable, since researchers are working to develop it further. To address this issue, the university will build a copy of the quantum computer, thanks to funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Swedish companies and researchers will be able to use the new computer – which will also be accompanied by a quantum help desk – as a test bed for their algorithms.