Recent advances in computing have led to a further miniaturization of integrated systems. In addition, these new devices would be faster than current ones and capable to share a very high quantity of information. Unfortunately, electronics is physically limited due to impedance and size constraints. To overcome these challenges, researchers are being developed new devices based on other physical principles as optics and quantum mechanics.This special session is devoted to the study and analysis of the last quantum and optical devices and their applications on computing. Several aspects will be treated, ranging from theoretical studies and their application to designs of new devices for futuristic computers. Important subjects as new ways to process information or storing it will be discussed through the four invited talks.From a theoretical point of view, Dr. Romero-Isart from Max-Plank Institute for Quantum Optics will discuss the ways to manipulate the quantum states of nanodielectrics and their applications. Quantum states are the base of quantum computing and how to use them as a processor. This item will be explained by Dr. Kaltenbaek from the Institute for Quantum Computing. On the other way, and with a more applicable point of view, the two other speakers will talk about certain optical and quantum devices. In particular, Dr de Riedmatten from the Institute of Photonic Sciences will dissert about quantum memories as an alternative to the actual magnetic memories, while Dr. Assefa will expose his last research in IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center about nanophotonic devices for next generation of supercomputers.
Recent advances in computing have led to a further miniaturization of integrated systems. In addition, these new devices would be faster than current ones and capable to share a very high quantity of information. Unfortunately, electronics is physically limited due to impedance and size constraints. To overcome these challenges, researchers are being developed new devices based on other physical principles as optics and quantum mechanics.This special session is devoted to the study and analysis of the last quantum and optical devices and their applications on computing. Several aspects will be treated, ranging from theoretical studies and their application to designs of new devices for futuristic computers. Important subjects as new ways to process information or storing it will be discussed through the four invited talks.From a theoretical point of view, Dr. Romero-Isart from Max-Plank Institute for Quantum Optics will discuss the ways to manipulate the quantum states of nanodielectrics and their applications. Quantum states are the base of quantum computing and how to use them as a processor. This item will be explained by Dr. Kaltenbaek from the Institute for Quantum Computing. On the other way, and with a more applicable point of view, the two other speakers will talk about certain optical and quantum devices. In particular, Dr de Riedmatten from the Institute of Photonic Sciences will dissert about quantum memories as an alternative to the actual magnetic memories, while Dr. Assefa will expose his last research in IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center about nanophotonic devices for next generation of supercomputers.
To advance quantum information science and technologies, a wide variety of quantum machines and protocols are being developed based on different physical systems. Interconnecting these systems is a grand challenge to scale up quantum information architectures. This effort requires to develop specialized photonic devices and capabilities, ranging from efficient photon extraction for qubit connectivity to the implementation of advanced optical memories. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the opportunities presented by networking, including long-distance quantum communications and distributed quantum computing. I will also present our recent experimental demonstrations, which enable the realization of a quantum-bit-encoding converter, the implementation and use of highly-efficient quantum memories based on laser-cooled neutral atoms, and the development of nanophotonic devices for qubit coupling.
To advance quantum information science and technologies, a wide variety of quantum machines and protocols are being developed based on different physical systems. Interconnecting these systems is a grand challenge to scale up quantum information architectures. This effort requires to develop specialized photonic devices and capabilities, ranging from efficient photon extraction for qubit connectivity to the implementation of advanced optical memories. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the opportunities presented by networking, including long-distance quantum communication and distributed quantum computing. I will also present our recent experimental demonstrations, which enable the realization of a quantum-bit-encoding converter, the implementation and use of highly-efficient quantum memories based on laser-cooled neutral atoms, and the development of nanophotonic devices for qubit coupling.
There are signs that we are approaching a technical revolution that might take humankind’s computational capabilities to a new level. Quantum Computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, enabling the computational power to solve specific problems currently intractable for classical computers (e.g., cracking cryptographic keys). Since we are getting to a point where we can no longer build smaller, more powerful, more efficient devices with conventional methodologies, we need to think of new ways for technological progress. The manufacturing of microchips is reaching its limits in the use of traditional architectures. Hence, new and more advanced technologies need to address the challenges of increasing energy consumption and data processing. Connectivity, scalable architectures and concepts like Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service have already helped to scale computational-intense applications in the last years and have attracted the interest of IS researchers (e.g., Benlian et al. 2009 ; Benlian et al. 2018 ; Messerschmidt and Hinz 2013 ). Looking ahead to the next generation, computing will comprise technologies that enable high-performance applications far beyond today’s possibilities. One prominent example with a disruptive potential is Quantum Computing. While there are abundant open questions and directions for further developments, researchers in this area have made substantial progress in the last decade, indicating that, after medical imaging, lasers, and superconductors, another quantum-technological innovation might be approaching. We, therefore, intend to provide an overview of the current state of Quantum Computing research and outline how this new technology might stimulate research in Information Systems.
It would be difficult to overestimate the level of attention being paid worldwide to quantum information processing, and anticipated advantages it may offer to a wide variety of pursuits in engineering, technology, and basic science. Futurists muse on the wondrous possibilities and theorists formulate actual algorithms for advanced computing not possible with classical computing machines, if only there were scalable quantum computers. Further, several groups have performed compelling experiments related to quantum teleportation and quantum key distribution – both essential pieces for quantum cryptography. Still, it is a very challenging hardware problem to design architectures that support, appropriately protect, route, and process qubits to function as universal logic gates. To date, most of the optical successes toward this goal have been in bulk media, which is not easily scalable to carry out the required degree quantum error correction. In this talk, I will discuss a couple of the proposals that my collaborators at the Air Force Research Laboratory, at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and I have made toward addressing the issue, among others, of scalability. Further, thanks to the inception of the AIM Photonics Initiative, I will talk briefly about experimental tests that we have started and others that we have planned for assessing in situ the effectiveness of the devices that we have analyzed theoretically.
A variety of photonic devices is required for the implementation of quantum sensors, computers and communication networks. This presentation will describe the current state-of-the-art and future possibilities for key photonic devices that enable quantum technologies, such as photon sources, photon detectors, optical amplifiers, electro-optic modulators and paths towards the integration of these devices. Specific requirements on these devices that come from quantum technology demands will be explored and technology solution approaches will be described. The presentation will also explore business prospects for photonic devices in the quantum markets, starting from the present and extrapolating to future opportunities.
Classical computers just won't cut it when it comes to tackling the greatest challenges in biology and medicine. Even accurately simulating the relatively simple caffeine molecule, far simpler than DNA or even proteins, would take an impossibly large classical computer. That's why we need a paradigm shift in the field of computing, like a shift from the steam locomotive to a starship's warp drive. That's why we need quantum computers. At IBM Quantum, we've already started building quantum computers based on superconducting transmon qubit technology, and have been making this transformative technology available to the world. Back in 2016, we made history when we put our quantum computers on the Cloud for anyone from enterprise developers to students to program. Last fall, we announced an aggressive roadmap toward building a 1121-qubit device by 2023. However, even that device will not be large enough to solve science's greatest challenges. That will require fault-tolerant quantum processors containing potentially millions or even billions of qubits working together. The technology required to build a processor with a few million superconducting qubits will likely surpass the limits of dilution refrigerator scaling (Figure 1), so we have to come up with alternative ideas for scaling up our devices efficiently. We think that constructing the fault-tolerant quantum computers of the future will require a distributed approach similar to today's supercomputers, where smaller processors each in their own fridge share quantum information coherently and without loss to tackle problems in parallel. This will only be possible if we can develop quantum interconnects to link processors together into a quantum intranet. This requirement for a quantum intranet is distinct from the more commonly discussed context of a quantum Internet. Quantum communications advances typically center around data transfer security such as long-distance entanglement and quantum key distribution. IBM has long been involved in this field; IBM researchers debuted the BB84 QKD protocol in 1984 [1], for example. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that short-distance quantum interconnect technology may play a key role in extending computational systems to a scale sufficient for solving practical problems. A quantum Internet connecting and interfacing such scaled quantum computers would follow as a next step to enable new applications. [2]. Quantum interconnects capable of supporting our vision of a quantum intranet will require fundamental advances in physics. The no-cloning theorem makes it impossible to convert an arbitrary, unknown quantum state into classical bits and then use these bits to recreate that exact state elsewhere, so we must devise schemes that stay coherent as we transfer quantum information from the states of superconducting qubits onto the states of photons, transmit these photons over wires, and recreate the quantum state on the superconducting qubits of another processor. At the same time, the microwave photons we use to manipulate and read out our superconducting qubits require wiring overheads, and a significantly different cryogenic infrastructure to permit coherent transfer of quantum states even over short distances. Hence, converting microwave photons into optical photons allows for low-loss quantum state transfer through fiber optic infrastructure that the telecom industry has spent decades maturing. Academic groups have been working for over a decade to transfer quantum information from microwave to optical photons in a coherent manner with a variety of systems and mechanisms, and while this has not been conclusively demonstrated, progress has been made [3]. At IBM Research's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, we have been developing a silicon-germanium microwave-optical transducer (funded by the Army Research Office and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences) that's integrated with our own transmon qubit platform. Meanwhile, our IBM Research lab in Zurich is exploring a different platform, to develop piezo-optomechanical transducers in gallium phosphide. Implementing and perfecting each of these solutions will be challenges on their own—plus, we must devise distributed error correcting codes to run on these systems. IBM Quantum “super-fridge” photo: https://flic.kr/p/2jHrEGw. IBM is developing a suite of scalable and increasingly larger and better processors, with a 1000-plus qubit device targeted for the end of 2023. In order to house even more advanced processors to the thousands and eventually million-plus qubit systems of the future, the IBM Quantum team is building a dilution refrigerator larger than any currently available commercially. (Credit: Connie Zhou for IBM) Our primary research focus is in scaling up transmon qubit processors, but the issues surrounding scale-up are important to every qubit architecture. We think that quantum interconnect research, and a quantum intranet, will be the likely solution to scale-up across the field. The community has already deemed quantum interconnects as "crucial for sustained development of a national quantum science and technology program" [4]. Other recent work involving connecting spatially separated qubits with microwave includes Zhong, Y. et al.’s “Deterministic multi-qubit entanglement in a quantum network,” [5], and Magnard, P. et al.’s “Microwave Quantum Link between Superconducting Circuits Housed in Spatially Separated Cryogenic Systems.” [6] Given the importance of these devices, and the impact of scale, we cannot tackle these challenges alone. In August of last year, the US Department of Energy announced that it would allocate up to $625 million in funding over five years to support multidisciplinary Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers. We expect that the work carried out at these centers will be essential to realizing the quantum intranet. Specifically, IBM Quantum will work with the Q-NEXT center led by Argonne National Laboratory to co-design technological building blocks and system needs that will allow us to realize these quantum interconnects. The IBM Quantum team is developing quantum computers because we think that these devices have the capability to change the world, but seeing them through to completion will take innovative solutions to physics problems that physicists have never faced before. If we can realize quantum interconnects and a quantum intranet, then we think we have a clear path to making these devices, and their abilities, a reality.