Thursday, September 5th, 2024

Enjoy a nice cup of freshly brewed quantum news ☕️ 

Today’s issue includes:

• The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security implemented new export controls on emerging technologies, including quantum computing and semiconductor manufacturing.

• Researchers from Quantinuum and Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a symmetry-enhanced technique called permutation-invariant classical shadows to improve the accuracy and efficiency of quantum state estimation in systems exhibiting symmetry.

• Researchers at IBM Quantum introduced Qiskit Serverless, a service that allows users to remotely build, deploy, and run quantum and classical workloads.

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

🦅 U.S. Commerce Department Implements New Export Controls on Quantum Computing and Semiconductor Technologies

QUICK BYTE: The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security implemented new export controls on emerging technologies, including quantum computing and semiconductor manufacturing.

DETAILS: 

• The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued an interim final rule (IFR) to impose export controls on certain technologies, such as quantum computing and semiconductor manufacturing, in collaboration with international partners for national security.

• The IFR introduces new global controls on specific items, including quantum computing equipment, semiconductor manufacturing tools, and Gate All-Around Field-Effect Transistor (GAAFET) technology, to prevent these technologies from being misused by adversaries.

• BIS has also established a new License Exception Implemented Export Controls (IEC) to streamline the export process for trusted partners that implement equivalent national controls.

• The rule includes provisions for deemed exports and reexports, with a 60-day compliance window for certain quantum items, and BIS is inviting public comments to refine the final rule based on broad input from industry stakeholders.

🪞 Symmetry in Quantum Systems Improves State Estimation Efficiency

QUICK BYTE: Researchers from Quantinuum and Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a symmetry-enhanced technique called permutation-invariant classical shadows to improve the accuracy and efficiency of quantum state estimation in systems exhibiting symmetry.

DETAILS: 

• Researchers from Quantinuum and Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a new technique called permutation-invariant classical shadows (PI-CS) that uses symmetries to increase the accuracy and efficiency of quantum state estimation.

• The PI-CS protocol reduces the number of measurements needed for quantum state estimation by taking advantage of the the symmetries present in quantum systems, particularly in cases where permutation symmetry is present, such as GHZ states.

• The study demonstrated that PI-CS outperforms standard classical shadow methods in quantum systems with symmetry, providing improvements in performance and reducing the sampling complexity required for accurate results.

• While the PI-CS method shows promise for quantum computing, metrology, and other quantum technologies, the researchers acknowledge its limitations in systems without symmetry and suggest future work to extend the approach to other types of symmetries and integrate error mitigation strategies.

☁️ IBM Quantum Introduces Qiskit Serverless for Scalable Cloud-Based Quantum Computing, Available for Private Preview for IBM Quantum Premium Plan users

QUICK BYTE: Researchers at IBM Quantum introduced Qiskit Serverless, a service that allows users to remotely build, deploy, and run quantum and classical workloads, enabling scalable and efficient quantum computing in the cloud.

DETAILS: 

• Qiskit Serverless, now available as a private preview, enables users to build, deploy, and run quantum and classical workloads remotely using IBM Quantum's cloud resources, providing scalability for complex and long-running tasks.

• The service allows researchers to configure workloads locally and execute them remotely, offering horizontal scalability by running jobs in parallel across multiple compute resources, which is particularly useful for quantum circuit transpilation and variational algorithms.

• Qiskit Serverless is designed for both researchers using IBM Quantum's infrastructure and organizations building their own quantum-classical environments, with open-source deployment options available for local or cloud use.

• The improvements to Qiskit Serverless lay the groundwork for the upcoming Qiskit Functions, which will provide pre-built quantum-classical workflows for tasks such as quantum chemistry simulation and hardware optimization.

💰️ Entropica Labs announced an investment from State Farm Ventures, extending its Series A round to $5.5 million. This investment will fund Entropica’s further pursuit of fault-tolerant quantum error correction software. The collaboration also includes testing Entropica's solutions on real-world insurance use cases with State Farm's Innovation Team.

🚂 Scientists at National Taiwan University and Wells Fargo introduced a framework that integrates quantum-train with federated learning to improve distributed learning systems. By using quantum neural networks and a new mapping model, it reduces qubit usage and improves model generalization. This addresses data encoding issues in quantum federated learning while ensuring that quantum resources are only required during training, making it practical for current quantum hardware limitations.

💸 Mesa Quantum announced an oversubscribed seed funding round of $3.7M led by J2 Ventures, allowing them to build a new research facility and hire talent to commercialize chip-scale quantum sensors. The goal of these sensors is to provide resilient and scalable alternatives to GPS for Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), with applications in defense, energy, and telecommunications, especially in GPS-denied environments. Mesa Quantum has also received a $1.9M grant from the Space Force for alternative PNT solutions, addressing vulnerabilities in current GPS systems.

🤝 D-Wave has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange as a corporate partner to advance quantum innovation, education, and practical optimization solutions. Through this partnership, D-Wave will collaborate on materials science research and workforce training, while using its quantum technology for industries like manufacturing and logistics.

🖥️ AWS sponsored a quantum error mitigation project for students in the AQET capstone program at the University of Wisconsin, providing access to Amazon Braket for running quantum algorithms on real hardware. Through hands-on learning, students analyzed the performance of the QAOA under noise and error mitigation.

LISTEN

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast explores quantum computing with insights from Elena Blokhina of Equal1 on silicon-based quantum processors using quantum dots, and Harvard PhD student Brandon Grinkemeyer on using trapped atoms as qubits for quantum processors.

ENJOY

IBM’s Chris Hockings predicts that technological advances, including passkeys, deepfake detection, and post-quantum cryptography, will create a safer internet in the coming years. Though AI-powered cybercrime and quantum computing pose significant threats, Hockings remains optimistic that innovations will outpace these challenges. A nice break from the usual doom & gloom future outlooks.

WATCH

In a video from Bloomberg, Maryland Congressman Glenn Ivey and IonQ CEO Peter Chapman discuss public-private partnerships and keeping the US ahead in quantum computing:

• 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