Quantum News Briefs: April 19, 2024: News from Riverlane • D-Wave • and MORE!
Quantum News Briefs: April 19, 2024: Press release summaries below:
Riverlane Awarded DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Program Grant
Riverlane has advanced to Phase 2 of DARPA‘s Quantum Benchmarking program, tasked with developing critical metrics for quantum computing. This initiative aims to address key challenges in quantum computing, such as fault tolerance and quantum error correction—essential for achieving a practical quantum advantage. In collaboration with leading universities and national labs, Riverlane is focusing on establishing benchmarks for significant scientific fields, including plasma physics and fluid dynamics. This effort will also assess the quantum and classical resources necessary for implementing large-scale quantum algorithms, as explained by Riverlane’s Principal Quantum Scientist, Hari Krovi. The company’s involvement in this program underscores its commitment to accelerating the progress of quantum computing technology, aligning with its vision of sparking a new era of human advancement akin to the industrial and digital revolutions.
D-Wave Introduces New Fast Anneal Feature, Extending Quantum Computing Performance Gains
D-Wave Quantum Inc., a pioneer in quantum computing technology, has introduced the fast-anneal feature across its quantum processing units in the Leap™ real-time quantum cloud service, marking a significant enhancement in quantum computing capabilities. This new feature, which has been integral to D-Wave’s research, allows for dramatically faster quantum annealing times, reducing the influence of external disturbances like thermal fluctuations. This advancement, detailed in prestigious publications such as Nature Physics and Nature, makes advanced quantum computations more accessible and efficient, paving the way for groundbreaking applications in fields like optimization problems and generative AI for drug discovery. D-Wave’s latest innovation is expected to accelerate industry and academic research, offering users the ability to leverage the most powerful quantum computing environment to date. Both Christopher Savoie, co-founder and CEO of Zapata AI and Ed Heinbockel, president and CEO of SavantX commented on the advantages provided by this new feature.
In Other News: New Scientist article: “Quantum-proof encryption may not actually stop quantum hackers”
According to a recent New Scientist article, cryptographers are closely monitoring a new algorithm developed by Yilei Chen at Tsinghua University, which poses a potential threat to “post-quantum” encryption methods designed to withstand attacks from quantum computers. These advanced encryption techniques, often based on lattice problems, have been adopted widely to prepare for the era of quantum computing. Chen’s algorithm, however, uniquely targets these lattice-based solutions using a quantum approach, promising faster resolution of these problems than currently possible. If proven effective, this algorithm could undermine the security measures deemed resistant to quantum decryption, presenting a significant challenge to the field of cryptography. This revelation has sparked intense scrutiny within the cryptographic community, as the implications of such an algorithm would be profound, impacting the ongoing efforts to secure data against future quantum threats.
