The Daily Qubit

🔋 ⚡ Late post, but new format! Plus, new control of entanglement and quantum batteries

Author

Cierra Choucair
April 24, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Welcome to the Quantum Realm. 

Enjoy today’s breakdown of news, research, events & jobs within quantum.

I love to hear from you! Send me a message at [email protected] for musings, for fun, or for insight if it so appeals to you.

NEW FORMAT

Big thank you to everyone who has provided feedback for improving the newsletter! It takes a community and I’m happy to iterate as many times as it takes. New changes to formatting:

  • quick summaries of today’s selection of news and research at the top for quick browsing

  • the return of definitions within news & research where necessitated

  • Featured Jobs only features jobs posted within last 24 hours

    Email me at [email protected] if you have any suggestions for both current and future content!

P.S. referral program coming soon

IN TODAY’S ISSUE:

  • MIT researchers have established a method for both generating and shifting entanglement within superconducting qubits

  • Fastest charging time of qutrit quantum battery yet

  • Market outlook: Denmark emerging as tech hub for quantum and quantum startup investment is up by 20%

  • IBM Think is on its way to Boston next month and we’re seeing plenty of quantum sessions on the agenda!

BRIEF BYTES

NEWS FOR THOSE IN A HURRY

  • While many are focused on the competing race to quantum advantage between the US and China, Europe is running its own race. Denmark was recently indicated as a developing tech hub for quantum — the Danish government allocated $171 million to fund academia and industry over the next three years and creation of Deep Tech Lab - Quantum in Copenhagen

  • IBM Think will be held in Boston, MA May 20 -23, which May 20th exclusively reserved for IBM partners. If you have the ability to attend, there are a handful of sessions on quantum computing including: “Roundtable discussion: What’s next in computing: Preparing for a post-quantum world”, “Roundtable discussion: IBM Tech Atlas: Six technology roadmaps that will define your business”, “Unlock business value by accelerating quantum and quantum-safe readiness“, among others. See more here.

  • Despite the spectrum of skepticism and hope about quantum computing, the market can be telling. Investment in quantum computing startups grew by 20% over last few years.

  • Finnish company Bluefors just announced an unrivaled ultra-compact cryogenic measuring system which will be ideal for HPC data centers with space limitations.

TOP HEADLINES IN NEWS & RESEARCH

NEWS

MIT QUANTUM PROCESSOR SHIFTS ENTANGLEMENT

Imagine Entanglement | Courtesy of Midjourney

The Brief Byte: MIT researchers, having spent years carefully developing the infrastructure, have fine-tuned a method to efficiently generate entanglement in superconducting qubits. Additionally, their processor is able to shift between volume-law to area-law entanglement; volume-law entanglement is vital to quantum advantage.

Breakdown:

  • Entanglement is one of key ingredients in quantum computing and the ability to efficiently implement and control entanglement has significant implications for realizing quantum advantage. However, it is difficult to simulate, create, and understand.

  • Researchers at MIT’s Engineering Quantum Systems group have been carefully developing methods to use microwave technology to control superconducting qubits. In addition to the obvious utility of control, the processor efficiently generates highly-entangled states and can shift from volume-law to area-law entanglement.

Volume-Law: key ingredient for what makes quantum computation so powerful; entanglement grows proportionally with total size of the subsystem

Area-Law: dependent upon number of shared qubits between subsystem and larger system; as subsystem grows, entanglement grows along boundary between the two

  • While we know the primary benefit of quantum computing is its potential to solve problems with complexity beyond the ability of quantum computing, work such as this reminds us that insight into the interactions of qubits themselves provides a deeper understanding of the laws of physics.

Full paper published in Nature today. Read more below.

RESEARCH

QUTRIT QUICK CHARGE: SIMULTANEOUS BEATS SEQUENTIAL

The Brief Byte: Researchers from the University of Genoa and CERN compare two protocols for efficiently charging a three-level quantum battery using superconducting transmon circuits. They found not only that applying the simultaneous charging pulses led to faster charging times, but also set a new baseline for fastest stable charging reported so far.

Breakdown:

  • Quantum batteries leverage the laws of quantum physics to both efficiently store and release energy which would in turn allow them to play a key role in powering future quantum technologies. Unsurprisingly, controlling the charging dynamics of multi-level quantum systems such as qutrit quantum batteries is challenging.

Qutrit - three level quantum informational unit

  • The researchers develop analytical solutions for the qutrit dynamics under two types of classical charging drives: sequential pulses that first excite the ground state to first excited state and then to second excited state, and simultaneous pulses that directly drive the ground to second excited state transition.

  • Simulations and experiments conducted on IBM devices demonstrate stable charging of the qutrit to 92-92.1% of its maximum energy, with the simultaneous driving yielding the fastest charging time reported so far. This work provides new tools for manipulating qutrits and optimizing quantum batteries.

EVENTS

JOBS POSTED WITHIN LAST 24 HOURS

UNTIL TOMORROW.

SUPPORT SCIENCE

Waking up before the world to dive into the quantum realm isn't just our job—it's our calling. And we're dreaming big with exclusive content for our community. If our work lights up your day, consider showing some love. Your support unlocks worlds—seen and unseen.

How many qubits was today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Interested in collaboration or promoting your company, product, job, or event to the quantum computing community? Reach out to us at [email protected]