IQT News Briefs June 15: The Real Deal: City of Chicago vying for PsiQuantum facility with incentives package • Crypto News: Quantum computers may break Bitcoin by 2030, but we won’t know about it • Berkeley Lab uses femtosecond lasers & hydrogen to create qubits in silicon

News Briefs:

The Real Deal: City of Chicago vying for PsiQuantum facility with incentives package

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is working with county and state officials to create an inventive package for PsiQuantum to redevelop the former U.S. Steel South Works on the city’s South Side into a state-of-the-art quantum computing facility, according to coverage in real estate- focused The Real Deal on June 13.
The effort is to persuade California-based PsiQuantum, a pioneer in quantum computing, to choose the former U.S. Steel site over the former Texaco refinery in southwest suburban Lockport. Also vying to host the facility, Lockport officials cite its access to significant water and electric power resources essential for supercomputers’ cooling requirements. Plus, the Lockport site is being site is being offered for free and has been environmentally remediated.
Chicago may need to invest up to $150 million to match Lockport’s proposal.
PsiQuantum is expected to make its decision within the next month.

Crypto News: Quantum computers may break Bitcoin by 2030, but we won’t know about it

Features Editor Elena Bozhkova wrote in June 13 Crypto News that quantum computers  threat to cryptocurrency is very real and approaching fast. Scientists may differ on the timeline, but they all agree: “Q-day” is not a matter of if, but when.
We’ve spoken to quantum experts around the world to hear the latest estimates on when it will happen, what can be done to protect cryptocurrency, and whether these powerful machines could somehow benefit the crypto world.
Key takeaways:

• Quantum computing might soon break cryptocurrency security. Experts predict potential breaches by 2030. Despite differing timelines, all agree quantum technology will eventually impact cryptocurrencies.
• Implementing post-quantum cryptography and updating blockchain protocols are essential to protecting crypto assets, but it is not easy to do.
• Early adopters of quantum-resistant technologies may gain market advantages, attracting investors to “quantum-safe” cryptocurrencies.
• The rise of quantum computing could lead to stricter regulations, protecting investors from vulnerable cryptocurrencies.
• Quantum computing may offer unexpected advantages to the crypto industry.

Could quantum computing actually benefit the cryptocurrency industry? Gavin Brennen from Macquarie University in Australiasuggests it might. In an email exchange with Cryptonews, Brennen discussed the development of quantum-enabled blockchains. Quantum computers could accelerate mining, although Brennen notes that the improvement over traditional mining rigs would be limited and require quantum computers with hundreds of millions of qubits—far beyond current capabilities.

In Other News: SciTechDaily reports Berkeley Lab uses femtosecond lasers & hydrogen to create qubits in silicon

Berkeley Lab’s new technique uses femtosecond lasers and hydrogen to precisely create qubits in silicon, advancing prospects for scalable quantum computing and networks according to article by Theresa Duque, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory June 14, 2024 and republished in SciTechDaily June 14, 2004.

• Berkeley Lab researchers have reported a major advancement that could bring us closer to a scalable quantum computer.
• Using a femtosecond laser during experiments exploring the role of hydrogen in qubit formation, the researchers developed a method that programs the formation of telecom-band optical qubits in silicon for large-scale manufacturing.
• The technique could enable scalable quantum computers of the future by building on current silicon-based computing infrastructure.

“This could carve out a potential new pathway for industry to overcome challenges in qubit fabrication and quality control,” said principal investigator Thomas Schenkel, head of the Fusion Science & Ion Beam Technology Program in Berkeley Lab’s ATAP Division.