MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., - Does quantum computing really exist? It’s fitting that for decades this field has been haunted by the fundamental uncertainty of whether it would, eventually, prove to be a wild goose chase. But Google has collapsed this nagging superposition with research not just demonstrating what’s called “quantum supremacy,” but more importantly showing that this also is only the very beginning of what quantum computers will eventually be capable of, writes Devin Coldewey for TechCrunch.com. Continue reading original article
The Intelligent Aerospace take:
October 29, 2019-The world's most powerful single processing system in the world - that we know of - is Summit, the supercomputer used at Oak Ridge National Labratory, which has 2.4 million processing cores and boasts just under 3 petabytes (about 3 million gigabytes) of memory.
NASA and Google have used quantum computing technology to best it in a big way. While Summit confirmed the result Google and NASA reached, it took a week to verify what the quantum computer spat out in seconds. It is impressive, but it is also one task solved rather than a floodgate of new computing power ready to hit the mainstream. Still, this may be looked back on as Coldewey writes, a "Hello World" moment.
“Since 2013, our collaboration with Google has worked to further demystify the possibilities of computing in the quantum world,” said Rupak Biswas, director of the Exploration Technology Directorate at Ames and a co-author on the paper. “Today’s achievement of quantum supremacy is an exciting milestone, one that Ames (Research Laboratory, operated by NASA) is very proud of supporting.”
In addition to quantum computing power, cybersecurity in the nascent field is also a top priority. Josh Lake, a specialist in security, privacy, and encryption, wrote an insightful, deep-dive piece into the quantum computing concerns with respect to security for Comparitech, titled "Is quantum computing a threat to cybersecurity?" Please click here to read the entire piece.
Lake writes, "The unique properties of quantum mechanics open up a world of new opportunities when it comes to secure communication. Some of these, such as quantum key-distribution, are already being used.Potential quantum mechanisms for the future include Kak’s three stage protocol and quantum digital-signatures, among other possibilities."
.Related: Team closes in on 'holy grail' of room temperature quantum computing chipsRelated: Airbus sets quantum computing challenge to explore solutions for aircraft life cycle
Related: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory 'connects the dots' for quantum networks
Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace
