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Quantum Age Edges Closer

sparky3887 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:15:21 +0000

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have led an international team in placing an electron in a nano-sized device on a silicon chip in two different ways. The techniques are breakthroughs that represent a key step in the development of quantum computing. The team reports that it accurately placed a single electron in silicon, adding that it was not attached to an atom. The researchers call the artificial atom a quantum dot, and note that they did not have to place single atoms in precise locations in a silicon chip. The researchers also report they were involved in another project in which “nature’s own way,” or binding electrons to single atoms, was used to place electrons in a silicon chip. The research lays the foundation for efforts to observe and then control the electron’s spin to create a quantum bit. UNSW professors Andrew Dzurak and Andrea Morello worked with Ph.D. students Wee Han Lim and Kuan Yen Tan, University of Melbourne professor David Jamieson, and Helsinki University of Technology professor Mikko Mottonen on the projects.

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Disentangling a Billion Dollar Opportunity–Quantum Information

sparky3887 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:34:42 +0000

Leading representatives from academia, government, and industry recently met at the Institute of Physics to discuss the most recent advances in quantum information processing (QIP) and how to make the most of new opportunities available in the field. Venture capitalist Hermann Hauser gave a presentation in which he argued that an additional 50 million to 100 million pounds needs to be invested to give the United Kingdom a global lead in a field with major market opportunities, potentially reaching 5 billion to 10 billion pounds in returns. Commercial applications associated with QIP progress include secure communications and giving computers the ability to solve problems traditional computers are unable to handle. In communications, quantum processing promises to deliver quantum cryptography, while in computer processing the benefits will come from quantum systems’ ability to exist in mutually contradictory states simultaneously, which allows computers to explore a far wider range of possibilities than conventional machines. “There is spectacular potential in the field of sensors, quantum cryptography, and computing,” says Imperial College London professor Sir Peter Knight. “The U.K. started the second quantum revolution with the exploitation of quantum coherence in 1990 and now we need to ensure that we maintain a lead.”

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A Police Woman Fights Quantum Hacking and Cracking

sparky3887 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:37:34 +0000

Quantum computing will give people and institutions an enormous amount of computing power, but it will also make their data vulnerable to attack. For Julia Kempe of Tel Aviv University’s Blavatnik School of Computer Science, now is the time to think about building systems that could withstand a quantum attack. She says it is only a matter of time before quantum computers become as powerful as expected by physicists and mathematicians, which means they would be able to break current encryption standards. “If a very rich person worked secretly to fund the building of a quantum computer, there is no reason in principle that it couldn’t be used for malevolent power within the next decade,” Kempe says. “Governments, large corporations, entrepreneurs, and common everyday people will have no ability to protect themselves.” Kempe is designing algorithms for quantum computers in an effort to learn about their limitations, as well as future programs that would protect their data.

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Researchers Unite to Distribute Quantum Keys

sparky3887 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:03:06 +0000

Scientists from 41 European research and industrial organizations recently sent secure, quantum encrypted information over an eight-node, mesh network. By creating a network with an average link length of 20 to 30 kilometers, with the longest link being 83 kilometers, the researchers say they have broken all previous records and taken a major step toward the practical implementation of secure, quantum-encrypted communication networks. Launched in late 2008, the quantum key distribution (QKD) demonstration involved secure telephone communications and videoconferencing, as well as a rerouting experiment that demonstrated the functionality of the SEcure COmmunication network based on Quantum Cryptography (SECOQC). “In our paper we have put forward, for the first time, a systematic design that allows unrestricted scalability and interoperability of QKD technologies,” the researchers write in their recent journal paper “The SECOQC Key Distribution Network in Vienna.” The paper describes the operation of the network and offers an initial estimate for the maximum number of keys that can be exchanged on a QKD network.

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Scientists Create First Electronic Quantum Processor

sparky3887 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:04:51 +0000

Yale University researchers have led a research effort to develop the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor, a major step toward the creation of a quantum computer. The researchers used a two-qubit superconducting chip to successfully run simple algorithms, including a search, marking the first demonstration of quantum information processing with a solid-state device. “Our processor can perform only a few very simple quantum tasks, which have been demonstrated before with single nuclei, atoms, and photons,” says Yale professor Robert Schoelkopf. “But this is the first time they’ve been possible in an all-electronic device that looks and feels much more like a regular microprocessor.” Yale postdoctoral associate Leonardo DiCarlo, the lead author of a paper on the discovery, says the key that made the two-qubit processor possible was getting the qubits to rapidly switch between the on and off states so they exchanged information quickly but only when the researchers wanted them to do so. This has not been possible using solid-state qubits because scientists could not get the qubits to maintain a specific quantum state long enough. The first qubits created about a decade ago were able to maintain specific quantum states for about a nanosecond, but the new qubits can maintain theirs for a microsecond, a thousand times longer. The researchers are now working to increase the amount of time the qubits maintain their quantum states so they can run more complicated algorithms. Schoelkopf says processing power increases exponentially with each qubit added, so the potential for advanced quantum computing is huge. However, he says it will still be a while before quantum computers can be used to solve complex problems.

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Computing in the Quantum Dimension

sparky3887 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:02:57 +0000

European researchers working on the Qubits Applications integrated project (QAP) are trying to solve some of the fundamental hurdles preventing real quantum computing applications. A group of 35 European scientists and industrial researchers are studying how to directly exploit quantum phenomena such as uncertainty, entanglement, and other aspects that are not fully understood. “We are not looking to create a quantum computer directly,” says QAP co-coordinator Ian Walmsley. “Other people are working on that, and it will take a long time to solve that problem.” Walmsley says QAP is working on some of the problems facing real-world quantum applications that could be deployed today that contain problems that need to be solved for quantum computing anyway, such as the storage of information encoded on a photon. “But by focusing on these problems, we can perhaps create important new products that could be developed in the short and medium term, and we could solve some of the fundamental problems affecting the advent of quantum computing,” he says. The researchers are exploring issues such as the storage of quantum information and transmission of certain quantum states, like entanglement, over long distances using repeaters. The researchers also will be examining quantum applications for the simulation of exceedingly complex problems. The project’s multidisciplinary nature is a major advantage, as computer scientists, applied mathematicians, experimental physicists, and industrial scientists and engineers are all contributing unique and diverse views and expertise, Walmsley says.

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