Quantum News Briefs June 12: Quantum Brilliance releases open-source software for quantum accelerators; Distinguished Visiting Fellow Paul Dabbar’s testimony before U.S. House: “Advancing American leadership in quantum technology”; Pritzker Molecular Engineering researchers “split” phonons – or sound – in step toward new type of quantum computer + MORE

Quantum News Briefs June 12:  Quantum Brilliance releases open-source software for quantum accelerators; Distinguished Visiting Fellow Paul Dabbar’s testimony before U.S. House: “Advancing American leadership in quantum technology”; Pritzker Molecular Engineering researchers “split” phonons – or sound – in step toward new type of quantum computer + MORE

Quantum Brilliance, the company behind miniaturized, room-temperature quantum computing products, has announced the general availability of Qristal SDK. Craig Hale of TechRadar discussed this development in his June 9 article summarized by Quantum News Briefs.Previously available in beta, Qristal SDK is an open-source software development kit designed for researching applications integrated with its diamond-based quantum accelerators.
In an announcement; Australia’s Quantum Brilliance said: “Qristal SDK is now available for anyone to develop and test novel quantum algorithms for real-world applications specifically designed for quantum accelerators rather than quantum mainframes.”
“With enhancements based on input from beta users, the Qristal SDK allows researchers to leverage quantum-based solutions in a host of potential real-world applications,” said Mark Luo, CEO and co-founder of Quantum Brilliance. “We believe this powerful tool will help organizations around the world understand how quantum accelerators can enable and enhance productisation and commercialisation.”
Qristal SDK users will find fully integrated C++ and Python APIs, NVIDIA CUDA features and customizable noise models to support the development of their quantum-enhanced designs. The software also incorporates MPI, the global standard for large-scale parallel computing, allowing users to optimise, simulate and deploy hybrid applications of parallelised, room-temperature quantum accelerators in high-performance computing (HPC) deployments from supercomputers to edge devices.
Currently the size of a desktop PC, the company is working to further miniaturise its technology to the size of a semiconductor chip that can be used on any device, wherever classical computers exist today, unlocking practical quantum computing for everyone.
The Qristal SDK source code can be downloaded here. The source code includes extensive application libraries for VQE, QAOA, quantum machine learning, natural language processing and more.
Click here to read announcement in-entirety on Quantum Brilliance website.

Distinguished Visiting Fellow Paul Dabbar’s testimony before U.S. House: “Advancing American leadership in quantum technology”

On June 6, 2023, Distinguished Visiting Fellow Paul Dabbar testified before the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on advancing American leadership in Quantum technology. Quantum News Briefs summarizes Dabbar’s suggestions  for consideration in the second NQI Act and how to build on successes:; click here for a PDF of his complete speech.

• Maintain core research programs and the five NQI Research Centers, adding funding to advance research;
• Authorize new programs that direct steps to deployment of first usable quantum computing, networking and sensing;
• Authorize a Quantum Centric HPC program. Authorize DOE to start a $200 million p.a. post-Exascale computing program that will incorporate quantum in the architecture. The NQI should build on the momentum from announcement by IBM, UChicago and two DOE labs to build a 100,000 qubit computer;
• A joint DOE/NASA quantum networking satellite and ground stations program connected to the terrestrial quantum networks authorized in CHIPS and Science Act. The U.S. is quite behind China on quantum satellite efforts;
• Direct DOE Science to scale existing Helium-3 production at Savannah River to support science and commercial uses;
• Create a new quantum foundry and instrumentation infrastructure program; and
• Authorize that funding is allowed for joint programs with allied nations.

Dabbar also urged how to build on NQI’s successes:

• We need to bridge the gap between research, quantum products, and users, including for computational discovery and applications like energy;
• While still advancing science, it is imperative to support first generation applications to deploy, including private companies’ quantum computers, an enhanced QUEST program, and network systems;
• Stand up a program to design, procure and deploy at the national labs first quantum centric HPC’s and large area quantum networks; and
• Deploy a U.S. quantum communications satellite.

Click here to read IQT News June 8 coverage of House hearing. An archived video of the hearing is available here.

Pritzker Molecular Engineering researchers “split” phonons – or sound – in step toward new type of quantum computer

The laws of quantum mechanics hold that quantum particles are fundamentally indivisible and therefore cannot be split, but researchers at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago are exploring what happens when you try to split a phonon. Quantum News Briefs summarizes June 8 article from Pritzer.
In two experiments – the first of their kinds – a team led by Prof. Andrew Cleland used a device called an acoustic beamsplitter to “split” phonons and thereby demonstrate their quantum properties. By showing that the beamsplitter can be used to both induce a special quantum superposition state for one phonon, and further create interference between two phonons, the research team took the first critical steps toward creating a new kind of quantum computer.
In the experiments, researchers used phonons that have roughly a million times higher pitch than can be heard with the human ear. Previously, Cleland and his team figured out how to create and detect single phonons and were the first to entangle two phonons.
In the second experiment, the team wanted to show an additional fundamental quantum effect that had first been demonstrated with photons in the 1980s. Now known as the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, when two identical photons are sent from opposite directions into a beamsplitter at the same time, the superposed outputs interfere so that both photons are always found traveling together, in one or the other output directions.
Importantly, the same happened when the team did the experiment with phonons – the superposed output means that only one of the two detector qubits captures phonons, going one way but not the other.
The power of quantum computers lies in the “weirdness” of the quantum realm. By harnessing the strange quantum powers of superposition and entanglement, researchers hope to solve previously intractable problems. One approach to doing this is to use photons, in what is called a “linear optical quantum computer.”
Unlike photon-based linear optical quantum computing, the UChicago platform directly integrates phonons with qubits. That means phonons could further be part of a hybrid quantum computer that combines the best of linear quantum computers with the power of qubit-based quantum computers.
Click here to read the complete article by Emily Ayshford, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, UChicago.

How quantum technologies will help the U.S. military keep its edge with ‘Quantum Transition Acceleration’

John Oncer, Editor, Photonics Online authored a June 2 editorial describing how quantum technology promises to keep militaries that harness its power one step ahead of those that don’t. Quantum News Briefs summarizes with attention to one one specific program the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is putting in place to capitalize on all they have to offer – a new-start project referred to as Quantum Transition Acceleration.
“The Office of the Secretary of Defense is requesting $75 million in fiscal 2024 to initiate a brand-new pursuit intended to both accelerate the commercialization and operationalization of quantum devices for Pentagon purposes and mature the U.S. supply chain underpinning the making of emerging quantum technologies,” reports DefenseScoop.
The DoD has, as part of its latest batch of budget justification documents, added a new-start project referred to as Quantum Transition Acceleration. “The [DOD’s] research and development of quantum technologies is critical to maintaining the nation’s technological superiority,” officials wrote in the Defense-wide justification book for fiscal 2024 budget estimates.
“Quantum technology is approaching a tipping point that will determine how quickly it can make an impact. If the [U.S.] can stay on pace, many important outcomes for the [DOD] can be realized including robust position, navigation, and timing for DOD freedom of operations with precision strike even with contests in spectrum, space, or cyber operations,” Pentagon officals wrote in the budget justification documents.
Pentagon officials expect quantum technologies to “lead to ‘rapid advances in materials and chemistry for advanced energetics, propulsion, and platform coatings’ — as well as enable nascent optimization techniques for stealth properties, logistics, and machine learning.
“Quantum tech might also drastically enhance electromagnetic spectrum capabilities, which they said holds promise to supply DOD with “significant advantages” associated with electronic warfare, intelligence collection, and more.”
As for the $75 million requested for the Quantum Transition Acceleration project, $45 million would go to “maturing, demonstrating, and transitioning quantum inertial sensors, gravity sensors, atomic clocks, and quantum electromagnetic sensors. The balance would be used for “identifying, developing, and maturing critical components supporting technology for atomic clocks, quantum sensors, and quantum computers” — and ultimately help “accelerate the transition of laboratory-scale systems to manufacturable commercial products.”  Click here to read June 2 PhotonicsOnline article in-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.