Quantum News Briefs April 12: SK Telecom finds a way to integrate globe’s various quantum cryptography communication networks; Quantum sensors inside the human body via biomedical research; How Argonne is pushing the boundaries of quantum tech research + MORE
Quantum News Brief April 12: SK Telecom finds a way to integrate globe’s various quantum cryptography communication networks; Quantum sensors inside the human body via biomedical research; How Argonne is pushing the boundaries of quantum tech research + MORE.
SK Telecom finds a way to integrate globe’s various quantum cryptography communication networks
South Korea’s largest mobile network operator SK Telecom recently announced it has found a way to integrate the globe’s various quantum cryptography communication networks according to UPI News’ Kim Yoon-kyoung & Kim Tae-gyu. Quantum News Briefs summarizes.
The Seoul-based wireless carrier said the discovery could lead to the linking of quantum cryptography technologies over different mobile phone networks. This could reduce the risk of hacking.
Quantum cryptography application to the telecom industry has been limited due to problems in connecting and operating communication networks across various systems of different operators and nations, SK Telecom said.
The company’s pan-network solution, whose veracity and viability has been affirmed by Korea’s state-backed National Information Society Agency, offers a way to make the technology available around the world.
The next step, the company said, will be the standardization of protocols, which it intends to do by sharing its work with telecom companies worldwide. Click here to read original article in-entirety.
Quantum sensors inside the human body via biomedical research
Quantum sensors are just taking off writes Politico’s Ruth Reader— and the government is investing. Quantum News Briefs summarizes the March 28 Politico article.
Quantum sensors use atomic-level technology to detect super-subtle signals, like changes in the electric fields around a neuron, which researchers haven’t been able to access in the past.
One of the most interesting to researchers is biomedical research. In the human body, quantum sensors can detect electrical signals from our brains and other organs that previously were just not possible to track.
“Quantum sensing is simply measuring very weak electrical and magnetic signals in biological systems,” said Sitta Gurusingham, a drug discovery consultant. He offers an example: If scientists could measure the electrical field around a neuron in the brain of a healthy individual and compare it to the magnetic field around a neuron in the brain of a patient with Alzheimers, the hypothesis is that these magnetic fields will look different.
“Then if we treat it with the drug, now we can see whether that becomes normal or not,” he said.
NCATS and the National Science Foundation are exploring quantum sensing to enhance biomedical research (the Department of Energy is also using these sensors in quantum physics research), and their hopes for what these sensors can accomplish are high.
Dr. Joni Rutter, Director of National Center for Advancing Translational Science, talked about why quantum sensing is so needed right now. There are over 10,000 diseases that we know about,” she said. “Ninety-five percent don’t have treatments or cures.” She continued to say that given it takes about 10-15 years to develop a particular therapeutic for these diseases, and $2.6 billion per therapeutic,, we need faster ways of doing things. Quantum sensors could deliver a level and granularity of data that could increase that speed. Click here to read original article in Politico.
How Argonne is pushing the boundaries of quantum tech research
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory is pushing the boundaries of quantum tech research. Quantum News Briefs summarizes a comprehensive, lengthy review by Argonne’s Christina Nunez.
Argonne is a hub for quantum technology research, pioneering work that dates back to Argonne emeritus scientist Paul Benioff’s groundbreaking theoretical proposal for a quantum computer in the 1980s. Today, research continues through Argonne’s QIS research and its leadership of Q-NEXT, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center. Here are three ways Argonne research has been pushing the frontiers of QIS.
Argonne scientists have assembled a material based on copper and carbon monoxide molecules to mimic graphene, a promising but difficult-to-make host for quantum data.
A record-breaking qubit was created using chips made from silicon carbide, an inexpensive and commonly used material.
This novel quantum test bed confirmed predictions about the behavior of electrons in graphene.
“It’s incredibly rare for an experimental system to match theoretical predictions so perfectly,” said Dan Trainer, who worked on the project while he was a postdoctoral appointee at Argonne.
Researchers also have made important strides with other materials that could be used for quantum applications. A team at Argonne and the University of Chicago created a record-breaking qubit — the quantum version of a computer bit — from the accessible and inexpensive compound silicon carbide.
In another study, Argonne researchers demonstrated the use of pure diamond membranes as platforms for storing and processing quantum information. DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards are funding further research on a method to commercially produce this quantum diamond material. Click here to read the complete article.
India’s RRI researchers demonstrate satellite-based quantum communication
Researchers at India’s Raman Research Institute (RRI) have demonstrated secure communication established between a stationary source and a moving receiver using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).
This demonstration could pave the way for ground-to-satellite-based secure quantum communication in future, a statement issued by the RRI said on Saturday. Quantum News Briefs summarizes below.
”These results, scientists say, could help India design and provide secure communication channels, especially for defence and strategic purposes, enhance cyber security and make online transactions safer than today,” according to the statement.
To achieve this feat, a team of researchers led by Prof Urbasi Sinha at the Quantum Information and Computing (QuIC) lab deployed the indigenously developed Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking (PAT) system. The PAT assisted the ground-based source in tracking the moving receiver in this case, a terrestrial vehicle, a few metres apart.
The successful experimental demonstration was held at RRI in early March this year, the statement read. It added that this work is part of the Quantum Experiments using Satellite Technology (QuEST) project for which RRI has been collaborating with the UR Rao Satellite Centre of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since 2017.
In a satellite-based long-distance quantum communication, the ground station needs to keep the line of sight with the moving satellite, the RRI said. Click here to read Geospatial article entirety.
Sandra K. Helsel, Ph.D. has been researching and reporting on frontier technologies since 1990. She has her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.
