DECON 30 to DEFCON 31 Quantum Activity Recap

Photo Credit: Pexels — Soumil Kumar

During the past year, the world of Quantum Computing has experienced tremendous growth and achieved unique scientific discoveries that bring us closer to reaping the benefits the technology has to offer. In preparation for DEFCON 31 Quantum Village 2, I have compiled a list of interesting developments, learning resources, and other content to help you get up to speed on what has transpired since last summer.

News: This section highlights several articles with unique use cases for Quantum Computers.

• Can Quantum Computing Revolutionize EVs? (Oct 2022) Optimization algorithms could help make improvements in current battery thermal management systems. Better batteries will be the key to the Electric Vehicle shift.
• Quantum Error Correction Could Enable Quantum Telescopes (Nov 2022): Researchers from Australia and Singapore are working on a new quantum technique to enhance optical VLBI. It’s known as Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP), which transfers quantum information without losses.
• Paving the Way for Satellite Quantum Communications (Nov 2022): A series of demonstrations by Micius — a low-orbit satellite with quantum capabilities — lays the groundwork for a satellite-based quantum communication network.
• Detecting dark matter with quantum computers (Dec 2022): Dark matter makes up about 27% of the matter and energy budget in the universe, but scientists do not know much about it. They know it is cold, meaning that the particles that make up dark matter are slow-moving. Detecting dark matter directly is difficult because it does not interact with light. However, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have found a way to look for dark matter using quantum computers.
• Quantum Biology: How Quantum Computing Can Unlock A New Dimension Of Treating Diseases (Dec 2022): Imagine a future in which every person on Earth is given the gift of great health — a world where rare diseases can be treated, cancer can be cured, multi-morbidity complications no longer exist and people everywhere live healthier, for longer. Sound like science fiction? The emerging field of quantum biology may make it possible.
• How quantum computing can navigate robots through crowded places (Dec 2022): In computational methods, a robot’s ability to pivot heavily depends on continuously solving differential equations. A promising approach to deal with robot path planning is to solve a differential equation called the Laplace equation.
• New quantum computing architecture could be used to connect large-scale devices (January 2023): MIT researchers have developed a quantum computing architecture that will enable extensible, high-fidelity communication between superconducting quantum processors.
• The Quantum Threat to DNS (Feb 2023): Mainstream quantum computing may still be years away, but cybersecurity efforts to protect against quantum attacks can’t wait. When quantum computing does make its entrance, it could quickly eviscerate the cryptography that currently protects online communications, such as the digital signatures used in the domain name system (DNS) and the key exchanges used in transport layer security (TLS).
• Implementing a quantum-secured network in a metropolitan area (Mar 2023): The AWS Center for Quantum Networking (CQN) has completed its first trial of quantum-secured communication in a customer environment.
• Turning Your Smartphone into a Quantum Sensor (Apr 2023): UNSW Sydney researchers have developed a chip-scale method using OLEDs to image magnetic fields, potentially transforming smartphones into portable quantum sensors. The technique is more scalable and doesn’t require laser input, making the device smaller and mass-producible. The technology could be used in remote medical diagnostics and material defect identification.
• Airplane Gate Scheduling (May 2023): A group of researchers working with IBM has been crafting and testing special algorithms for specific problems that work with quantum circuits. That means the broad category of optimization tasks becomes a more specific problem, like finding the best gate to connect flights at an airport.
• NVIDIA, Rolls-Royce, and Classiq Announce Quantum Computing Breakthrough for Computational Fluid Dynamics in Jet Engines (May 2023): Using NVIDIA’s quantum computing platform, the companies have designed and simulated the world’s largest quantum computing circuit for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) — a circuit that measures 10 million layers deep with 39 qubits. By using GPUs, Rolls-Royce is preparing for a quantum future despite the limitations of today’s quantum computers, which only support circuits a few layers deep.
• Quantum sensors could detect space debris from its gravitational pull (May 2023): Sensors based on the quantum behavior of tiny crystals could detect pieces of space debris hurtling toward satellites. Protection of space equipment has become a growing area of interest as more countries put hardware into orbit.
• Quantum repeater transmits entanglement over 50 kilometers (Jun 2023): Physicists at the Universities of Innsbruck in Austria and Paris-Saclay in France have combined all the key functionalities of a long-distance quantum network into a single system for the first time. In a proof-of-principle experiment, they used this system to transfer quantum information via a so-called repeater node over 50 kilometers — far enough to indicate that the building blocks of practical, large-scale quantum networks may soon be within reach.
• Scientists achieve 1000 km quantum key distribution (Jun 2023): A point-to-point long-distance quantum key distribution (QKD) over a distance of 1,002 km has been achieved by scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and their collaborators from Tsinghua University, Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology, and Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), CAS.
• New Quantum Magnet Promises Applications in Robotics, Electronics, and Sensors (July 2023): Researchers discover how to control the anomalous Hall effect and Berry curvature to create flexible quantum magnets for use in computers, robotics, and sensors.
• Quantum leap — How quantum sensors are revolutionizing robotics (Aug 2023): Quantum sensors and quantum AI are just the beginning: Robots are now getting the quantum sensor treatment too. Quantum sensors will supercharge how robots work and how we apply them to important 21st-century challenges.

Reports: The following reports aggregate data regarding Quantum Computing adoption and trends associated with the industry’s growth over the last year.

• State of Quantum Computing: Building a Quantum Economy (Sep 2022): A World Economic Forum Report detailing advancements and trends in the industry.
• Quantum Machine Learning — State of the Art and Future Directions (December 2022): This report surveys the current state of the art in quantum machine learning. It reviews quantum-inspired classical algorithms for classical data, genuine quantum algorithms for classical data, classical algorithms for quantum data, and quantum algorithms for quantum data. The particular focus of this review is on methods that are practically feasible on existing quantum computers.
• The Second Annual Report on Enterprise Quantum Computing Adoption (January 2023): The year 2022 marked a tipping point in enterprise quantum adoption, as more than two-thirds of quantum adopters reported quantum computing budgets over $1 million, up more than 2.5X over last year’s reported results. Confidence in Quantum’s potential to deliver better business results is growing, and enterprises are getting tactical in achieving a competitive advantage with the technology.
• A new report shows Quantum Technologies thriving in Europe (Feb 2023): Europe’s globally-competitive quantum technology ecosystem, comprised of SMEs, corporations, leading scientists, projects, start-ups, and spin-offs, is showing strong signs of growth.

Quantum Machine Learning: Quantum Computers could revolutionize machine learning. These articles highlight advancements at the intersection of ML and Quantum.

• Quantum AI breakthrough (Aug 2022): A theorem that shrinks the appetite for training data. Training a quantum neural network requires only a small amount of data, according to new proof that upends previous assumptions stemming from classical computing’s huge appetite for data in machine learning or artificial intelligence. The theorem has several direct applications, including more efficient compiling for quantum computers and distinguishing phases of matter for materials discovery.
• AutoQML: Automatic Generation and Training of Robust Quantum-Inspired Classifiers Using Genetic Algorithms on Grayscale Images (Aug 2022). This paper uses multiobjective genetic algorithms to describe a new hybrid system for automatically generating and training quantum-inspired classifiers on grayscale images.
• QDataSet (September 2022): A quantum dataset designed to facilitate the training and development of quantum machine learning algorithms.
• Quantum data conversion offers a path to scale up quantum technology architectures (Feb 2023): Researchers at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory in Paris have succeeded in building the first converter between the two different types of quantum-bit encodings — an equivalent to converters for classical information, but targeted to different types of quantum data.
• Quantum Deep Hedging (Mar 2023): Quantum machine learning has the potential for a transformative impact across industry sectors, particularly finance. In this paper, the authors look at the problem of hedging, where deep reinforcement learning offers a powerful framework for real markets.
• A practical overview of image classification with tensor-network quantum circuits (Mar 2023): Circuit design for quantum machine learning remains a formidable challenge. Inspired by the applications of tensor networks across different fields and their novel presence in the classical machine learning context, one proposed method to design variational circuits is to base the circuit architecture on tensor networks.
• A Framework for Demonstrating Practical Quantum Advantage (Apr 2023) Generative modeling has seen a rising interest in both classical and quantum machine learning, and it represents a promising candidate to obtain a practical quantum advantage in the near term. In this study, researchers build a proposed framework for evaluating the generalization performance of generative models. They establish the first quantitative comparative race towards practical quantum advantage (PQA) between classical and quantum generative models, namely Quantum Circuit Born Machines (QCBMs), Transformers (TFs), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), and Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Networks (WGANs).
• MNISQ: A Large-Scale Quantum Circuit Dataset for Machine Learning on/for Quantum Computers in the NISQ era (Jun 2023): The first large-scale dataset, MNISQ, for both the Quantum and the Classical Machine Learning community during the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum era. MNISQ consists of 4,950,000 data points organized in 9 subdatasets.

Finance: The finance industry has been at the forefront of Quantum Computing research. The following articles highlight specific use cases where Quantum Computers could advance how we solve the hardest problems in finance.

• Using Q# to estimate resources needed for quantum advantage in derivative pricing (Sep 2022): This write-up goes into what would the specifications of a quantum computer needed to achieve a practical advantage for the problem of derivatives pricing.
• Portfolio Optimization via Quantum Zeno Dynamics (Sep 2022): Portfolio optimization is an important problem in mathematical finance and a promising target for quantum optimization algorithms. Successful portfolio optimization could maximize the ability of investment managers to generate profits for their customers, including your retirement account.
• Inside Quantum Technology’s Inside Scoop (Dec 2022): With so many people having credit cards, many banks and financial institutions struggle with the credit card application process, creating a bottleneck. This bottleneck is just one of many in the loan industry. As quantum computing works to optimize processes and, in turn, fix bottlenecks, it could help transform the entire loan industry into a faster, more efficient machine.
• Reinvent option pricing in capital markets using quantum computing (March 2023): The Monte Carlo simulation is a probabilistic numerical model used to predict the outcome of an uncertain process, which requires a significant amount of computing power for predicting the probability of an outcome. Quantum machine learning models such as Quantum Boltzmann Machines (QBM) and quantum optimization models like Quantum Annealing (QA) could aid in derivative pricing while enhancing computing speed.
• ​​Quantum computing reduces systemic risk in financial networks (March 2023): In highly connected financial networks, the failure of a single institution can cascade into additional bank failures. This systemic risk can be mitigated by adjusting the loans, holding shares, and other liabilities connecting institutions to prevent cascading failures. The article compares classical and quantum algorithms for solving this problem.

Learning Resources: From fun to academic, this section highlights write-ups that help you get familiar with quantum computing.

• Quantum Kittens (Aug 2022): Explore the realm of Quantum Kittens, where the fascinating world of quantum computing unfolds through captivating tales of feline adventures.
• A picture is worth 1000 words (Aug 2022): A useful visualization to understand the Journey of a Quantum Algorithm.
• Quantum Computer Explained in Photographs (Sep 2022): A visual description of Quantum Computer Components and an overview for those looking to get familiar.
• An Illustrated Introduction to Quantum Networks and Quantum Repeaters (Oct 2022): Quantum networks are an emerging technology that distributes entangled quantum bits to geographically separated users. You can learn more about how these Quantum Networks operate in this article.
• An Introduction to Quantum Natural Language Processing (Nov 2022): Natural language processing is an interdisciplinary subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence concerned with the interactions between computers and human language, in particular, how to program computers to process and analyze large amounts of natural language data. In this article, you can learn how Quantum Computers could enhance Natural Language Processing.
• How fast are quantum computers? (Nov 2022) The point of quantum computers is that, once created, they will solve problems too complex for any present or future supercomputer. To a layperson, this sentence is equivalent to “Quantum computers are much faster than any supercomputer will ever be.” This write-up goes deeper into how fast they are.
• The Quantum Internet Explained (Dec 2022): The quantum internet is a network of quantum computers that will someday send, compute, and receive information encoded in quantum states. The quantum internet will not replace the modern or “classical” internet; instead, it will provide new functionalities such as quantum cryptography and quantum cloud computing. Learn more about what it would entail in this article.
• The Thermodynamics of Quantum Computers (Jan 2023): Heat and computers do not mix well. If computers overheat, they do not work well or may even crash. But what about the quantum computers of the future? These high-performance devices are even more sensitive to heat. This article goes into some of the intricacies of cooling these systems.
• The Wired Guide to Quantum Computing (Feb 2023): An introductory write-up to qubits, superpositioning, and more.

Experiment: If you like to be more hands-on, these resources point you to ways to unleash the hacker inside you.

• Enabling Post Quantum Cryptography on your website (Aug 2022): This blog explains an effort by CloudFlare to begin testing and adding post-quantum cryptography to websites, and now you could even try to deploy it on your website.
• AWS open-sources OQpy to make it easier to write quantum programs in OpenQASM 3 (Oct 2022): An open-source library designed to make it easy to generate OpenQASM 3 programs in Python.
• Introducing Qiskit Algorithms With Qiskit Primitives (Dec 2022): The latest release of Qiskit introduced the Qiskit Primitives as a new way to interact with quantum computers. In addition to introducing the primitives, the new release came with a completely updated algorithms module, which provides state-of-the-art quantum algorithms for the open-source community, all powered by the newly introduced primitives.
• Intel Releases Quantum Software Development Kit 1.0 (Feb 2023): Intel Quantum SDK is a full quantum computing stack in simulation that offers a customizable development environment for various developers.