NIST has just chosen the first group of encryption tools that are designed to withstand the assault of a future quantum computer, which could potentially crack the security used to protect privacy in the digital systems we rely on every day — such as online banking and email software. The four selected encryption algorithms will […]
Breakthrough in integrated photonics
Scientists at EPFL, Switzerland, have built a compact waveguide amplifier by successfully incorporating rare-earth ions into integrated photonic circuits. The device produces record output power compared to commercial fiber amplifiers, a first in the development of integrated photonics over the last decades. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are devices that can provide gain to the optical […]
Quantum Computer programming basics
Los Alamos National Laboratory recently published a Quantum Computer programming guide in ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing. For would-be quantum programmers scratching their heads over how to jump into the game as quantum computers proliferate and become publicly accessible, a new beginner’s guide provides a thorough introduction to quantum algorithms and their implementation on existing hardware. Deep-diving guide […]
Quantum computational advantage using programmable photonic sensor
A team of researchers from Xanadu and the NIST is claiming that their quantum computer, Borealis, has achieved computational advantage in taking on the boson sampling challenge. The researchers took on the challenge using a photonic machine that uses photons to represent qubits. Technically called the Gaussian boson sampling challenge, it involves preparing states of […]
Dutch researchers teleport quantum information across rudimentary quantum network
Researchers at QuTech in Delft have succeeded in teleporting quantum information across a rudimentary network. This first of its kind is an important step towards a future quantum internet. This breakthrough was made possible by a greatly improved quantum memory and enhanced quality of the quantum links between the three nodes of the network. The […]
Intel and QuTech deliver first industrially manufactured qubit
Engineers from Intel and scientists from QuTech have delivered the first qubit made in the very same industrial manufacturing facilities that mass-produce conventional computer chips. This advancement has been a long-standing goal due to its promise of scalability. The breakthrough is a crucial step towards scaling to the thousands of qubits that are needed for […]
Interior of protons is maximally entangled
Fragments of the interior of a proton have been shown by scientists from Mexico and Poland to exhibit maximum quantum entanglement. The discovery, already confronted with experimental data, allows us to suppose that in some respects the physics of the inside of a proton may have much in common not only with well-known thermodynamic phenomena, […]
Race Not Over Between Classical and Quantum Computers
In the race to achieve the coveted “advantage” of a quantum computer, those developing quantum algorithms are pitted against each other and against those working on classical algorithms. With each potential claim of such an advantage — the successful calculation on a quantum computer of something that is infeasible on a classical one — scientists […]
A new kind of superconductivity: Kagome metals
In the past four years scientists have discovered metals whose crystal structure mimics that of a traditional Japanese woven bamboo pattern: kagome metals. The international research activity in this new direction of quantum materials has recently reached a new climax: an international team of physicists has discovered that the underlying kagome lattice structure induces the […]
Protons are probably smaller than long thought
A few years ago, a novel measurement technique showed that protons are probably smaller than had been assumed since the 1990s. The discrepancy surprised the scientific community. Some researchers even believed that the Standard Model of particle physics would have to be changed. The radius of a protons, according to current measurements, is 0.84 femtometers. […]