Wednesday, September 4th, 2024

Enjoy a nice cup of freshly brewed quantum news ☕️ 

Today’s issue includes:

• Quantum Brilliance and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have partnered to integrate room-temperature diamond quantum accelerators with high-performance computing systems.

• A study from the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ICREA, and the NASK National Research Institute presents a method that uses attention-based neural networks to improve quantum state tomography by denoising experimental data.

• The MadQCI project deployed a scalable, heterogeneous quantum key distribution network integrated with commercial optical telecommunications systems.

• A study by CSIRO and the University of Melbourne demonstrates that quantum principal component analysis effectively compresses data from chemiresistive sensor arrays.

And even more research, news, & events within quantum.

💎 Quantum Brilliance Partners with Oak Ridge National Laboratory for Room-Temperature Hybrid Quantum Computing

QUICK BYTE: Quantum Brilliance and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have partnered to integrate room-temperature diamond quantum accelerators with high-performance computing systems.

DETAILS: 

• Quantum Brilliance and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have partnered to integrate QB’s diamond-based quantum accelerators with ORNL's high-performance computing systems in pursuit of parallel and hybrid quantum computing for practical applications.

• Goals for the collaboration include developing new computational methods and software tools by using the synergy between quantum and classical computing to solve complex problems that are currently unsolvable by classical systems alone.

• By co-developing these technologies, the partnership has an opportunity to serve as an example of future HPC infrastructure design as well as explore the potential of room-temperature quantum accelerators for practical applications.

🧠 Researchers Redo Quantum State Tomography with Attention-Based Neural Networks for Improved Accuracy and Noise Reduction

QUICK BYTE: A study from the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ICREA, and the NASK National Research Institute presents a method that uses attention-based neural networks to improve quantum state tomography by denoising experimental data and improving the accuracy of quantum state reconstruction.

DETAILS: 

• A recently published paper in Physical Review Research, by researchers from the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ICREA, and the NASK National Research Institute, proposes a method for improving quantum state tomography using an attention-based neural network architecture to denoise experimental density matrices, learning the noise patterns from the data itself without requiring prior knowledge of noise sources.

• The method improves the fidelity of quantum state reconstruction compared to traditional QST methods like linear inversion and maximum likelihood estimation, reducing the amount of training data required by an order of magnitude.

• Testing on squeezed states of few spins affected by depolarizing noise and calibration errors showed the neural network's ability to improve the certification of metrologically useful entanglement in noisy quantum systems.

• The model shows promise for applications in near-term quantum devices and NISQ platforms, providing improvements in state reconstruction even in out-of-distribution scenarios with unknown levels of noise.

🕸️ MadQCI Project Integrates Scalable Quantum Key Distribution with Commercial Telecom Networks for Real-World Quantum-Classical Compatibility

QUICK BYTE: The MadQCI project deployed a scalable, heterogeneous quantum key distribution network integrated with commercial optical telecommunications systems to demonstrate the compatibility of quantum and classical communications in real-world production environments.

DETAILS: 

• The MadQCI project, completed by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Huawei Technologies, Nutshell Quantum-Safe, Toshiba Europe, Quside, and other European partners, deployed a heterogeneous, scalable, software-defined quantum key distribution network integrated with a commercial optical telecommunications network, demonstrating compatibility with both quantum and classical systems in real-world production environments.

• The network operates 28 QKD modules from multiple manufacturers across nine nodes, sharing infrastructure with classical communication, ensuring dynamic and flexible quantum link establishment, which increases network resilience and security.

• The goal of the project was to integrate QKD into existing telecom systems cost-effectively, avoiding the need for ad-hoc infrastructure, and demonstrating the viability of using quantum and classical signals on the same physical infrastructure over a three-year testing period.

• Use cases included critical infrastructure protection, secure network management, and 5G applications, showcasing the potential for quantum communications to become a mainstream technology integrated with standard telecom operations.

🤖 CSIRO and University of Melbourne Preprint Shows Quantum PCA Outperforms Classical Methods in IoT Data Compression

QUICK BYTE: A study by CSIRO and the University of Melbourne demonstrates that quantum principal component analysis effectively compresses data from chemiresistive sensor arrays and outperforms classical PCA in retaining critical information for IoT applications.

DETAILS: 

• According to a recently published preprint, quantum principal component analysis can be a superior method for data compression in Internet of Things applications, specifically targeting data from chemiresistive sensor arrays.

• qPCA uses quantum kernel-based algorithms to compress high-dimensional data while preserving critical information, and shows better performance compared to classical PCA in various machine learning tasks, particularly in low-dimensional spaces.

• The research highlights qPCA's potential for real-world applications, demonstrating its ability to retain nonlinear patterns more effectively during dimensionality reduction, leading to more accurate machine learning readouts.

🤝 The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center and QuEra Computing have extended their partnership for a second year. After a successful first year, the collaboration has allowed NERSC researchers to gain insights into QuEra’s technology and demonstrate its scalability through experiments involving over 100 atoms. The extended partnership will now offer a select group of researchers access to QuEra's quantum hardware.

❗️ Next week, global quantum experts will gather in northern Virginia for the third annual Quantum World Congress, where they will discuss the latest advancements and the urgent need to reauthorize the U.S. National Quantum Initiative. Despite bipartisan support, the NQI has stalled in Congress, while other nations, like China and the U.K., push ahead with quite notable investments. With global competition intensifying and potential quantum applications for national security and public sector challenges, Allison Schwartz, VP of Global Government Relations and Public Affairs at D-Wave, stresses the importance of reauthorizing the NQI.

🤖 A study from the University of Exeter proposes a geometric quantum machine learning approach to classify barcode-like images based on their similarities, using symmetry-aware quantum neural networks. By comparing this quantum method to classical deep learning models, the authors demonstrate that GQML outperforms classical models in terms of generalization and accuracy, especially when working with limited training data and datasets with global correlations.

📢 A recently released techUK report emphasizes the need for businesses and governments to prepare for quantum resilience by adopting quantum-safe technologies, such as post-quantum cryptography, to protect against future quantum computing threats that could undermine current cryptographic systems. It calls for collaboration between industries, government, and the quantum community to ensure a secure transition to quantum-resistant infrastructure.

📱 Mullvad VPN AB announces that its quantum-resistant tunnels are now available on iOS, enabling secure VPN connections using post-quantum cryptography to protect against future quantum computer attacks. The tunnels use Classic McEliece and Kyber algorithms to establish a shared secret that remains secure even if network traffic is accessed by a quantum computer, safeguarding encrypted data.

🛡️ PQShield has developed the first fully functional post-quantum cryptography silicon test chip to help semiconductor vendors ensure compliance with NIST PQC standards, enabling real-world testing of platform security and side-channel countermeasures. This chip allows PQShield to evaluate and refine cryptographic algorithms and security features, positioning them to stay ahead of future quantum threats as industry regulations evolve.

LISTEN

In this episode of Quantum Tech Pod, host Christopher Bishop sits down with Julien Camirand Lemyre, CEO and co-founder of Nord Quantique. They discuss his journey from a small town in Quebec to pursuing quantum error correction using bosonic codes with superconducting circuits. He provides the vision behind Nord Quantique’s approach to quantum computing, goals for qubit performance, and explores potential applications in materials science, envisioning fault-tolerant quantum computers making significant industry impact within the next decade.

ENJOY

In his exploration of the Ising Model and the Boltzmann distribution, Geordie Rose explores how our universe's complexity arises from the recombination of a small set of fundamental patterns. He illustrates how the simple interactions of binary states, such as +1 and -1, can model intricate systems, shedding light on how these basic principles are at the root of everything from particle physics to deep learning. Beneath the seeming chaos of the universe is really just simplicity, how quaint.

WATCH

Check out this behind-the-scenes tour of Google's Quantum AI lab, where scientists and engineers explain the intricacies of building quantum computers, from qubit creation to quantum algorithm execution:

• On Thursday, September 5th, paper submissions are due for the 23rd International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications.

• On Monday, September 9th, Tasmanian Society for Information Technology in Education is hosting ACCE Webinar - Quantum Computing for Educators—virtual

• On Tuesday, September 10th, Quantum Machines is hosting a webinar on Low Latency Imaging for Next-Gen Mid-Circuit Quantum Measurements—virtual