Monday, September 16th, 2024

Enjoy a nice cup of freshly brewed quantum news ☕️ 

Today’s issue includes:

• IBM launched the Qiskit Functions Catalog.

• Kipu Quantum recently announced its updated roadmap toward Commercial Quantum Advantage, focusing on developing scalable quantum algorithms to address current quantum hardware limitations.

• Researchers from the University of Pavia introduced the Shadow Quantum Linear Solver to efficiently solve linear systems of equations.

• Plus, a global quantum network made of satellites, quantum sensing that surpasses nitrogen vacancy centers in diamonds, a warehouse of quantum computers ready to go, and more.

And even more research, news, & events within quantum.

👩‍💻 IBM Announced Qiskit Functions Catalog to Accelerate Quantum Algorithm Development and Application Prototyping

QUICK BYTE: IBM launched the Qiskit Functions Catalog, enabling developers and quantum scientists to access abstracted quantum computing services that accelerate algorithm development and application prototyping.

DETAILS: 

• IBM has announced the release of the Qiskit Functions Catalog, a platform designed to accelerate quantum algorithm and application development by providing abstracted services for developers and quantum scientists.

• The catalog includes two types of functions: Circuit Functions, which streamline quantum circuit execution by handling synthesis, optimization, and error management; and Application Functions, which enable domain-specific tasks like optimization or chemistry simulations without requiring deep quantum expertise.

• Key partners, such as Q-CTRL, Algorithmiq, Qedma, and QunaSys, have contributed functions that provide error mitigation, optimization solutions, and specialized applications for quantum chemistry and optimization problems.

  • Algorithmiq announced the commercial availability of its Tensor Network Error Mitigation (TEM) solution through IBM's Qiskit Functions Catalog, offering developers, researchers, and computational scientists a tool for noise mitigation.

  • Q-CTRL's Fire Opal, now available on IBM Quantum Platform through Qiskit Functions, provides AI-driven error suppression and noise-aware solvers to optimize utility-scale quantum applications, to reduce compute time.

  • Qedma announced the availability of its Quantum Error Suppression and Error Mitigation (QESEM) solution through IBM's Qiskit Functions, providing a tool to improve accuracy and scalability in quantum algorithms by addressing error challenges at both the hardware and circuit levels.

  • QunaSys launched QURI Chemistry within IBM’s Qiskit Functions Catalog, making advanced quantum chemistry algorithms more accessible for the materials and chemical industries by abstracting complex calculations.

• The Qiskit Functions Catalog is part of IBM’s broader effort to simplify access to quantum computing by offering tools that automate the quantum software development workflow, making utility-scale quantum computing more accessible to enterprise users and researchers.

✨ Kipu Quantum Unveils Roadmap for Commercial Quantum Advantage with Scalable Algorithms and New Complexity Index

QUICK BYTE: Kipu Quantum recently announced its updated roadmap toward Commercial Quantum Advantage, focusing on developing scalable quantum algorithms to address current quantum hardware limitations and derive practical, industry-ready quantum computing applications.

DETAILS: 

• Kipu Quantum’s roadmap through Q4 2025 focuses on developing scalable, hardware-specific quantum algorithms that can tackle complex, industrially relevant problems.

• The company addresses what it believes is the current bottleneck in quantum computing—algorithmic inefficiency—by creating catalyzed algorithms that reduce circuit depth and resource requirements.

• Kipu Quantum introduces a new metric, the Kipu Complexity Index (KCI), to quantify the difficulty of solving NP-hard optimization problems on quantum hardware, targeting 100+ qubit problems as the threshold for Commercial Quantum Advantage.

• The roadmap emphasizes Kipu’s mission to accelerate quantum computing solutions ahead of industry expectations, aligning its algorithm development, application use cases, and quantum services to meet industry demands with a focus on creating a quantum-based convolutional neural network service, cheminformatics services, and applications to take on protein folding.

➕ University of Pavia Shadow Quantum Linear Solver (SQLS) Efficiently Solve Linear Systems of Equations

QUICK BYTE: Researchers from the University of Pavia introduced the Shadow Quantum Linear Solver (SQLS), a quantum algorithm combining variational quantum algorithms with classical shadows to efficiently solve linear systems of equations on near-term quantum devices.

DETAILS: 

• The Shadow Quantum Linear Solver (SQLS) is a quantum algorithm designed to efficiently solve the Quantum Linear System Problem (QLSP). It combines variational quantum algorithms and classical shadows to optimize resource usage.

• SQLS reduces the need for large controlled operations and uses fewer qubits and shallower circuits compared to other methods, such as the variational quantum linear solve.

• The algorithm shows theoretical advantages in scaling, offering exponential speedups and resource efficiency, as demonstrated through solving various linear systems and applying the SQLS to solve the discretized Laplace equation on a 2D grid.

TNO has launched the Qu-STAR project, in collaboration with Airbus, to explore the role of satellites in developing a global quantum internet, addressing the limitations of ground-based quantum networks, which can only transmit information over a few hundred kilometers. The project will actively work towards designing a comprehensive architecture for space-enabled quantum communication networks, leveraging TNO’s expertise in free space optics and photonics.

Researchers from RMIT University, University of Melbourne, and others have discovered a carbon-based defect in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) that functions as a quantum sensor capable of detecting magnetic fields in any direction, surpassing the limitations of existing quantum sensors made from nitrogen vacancy centers in diamonds. This defect, along with the boron vacancy in hBN, can also detect temperature changes, and its atomically thin structure allows it to conform to irregular surfaces, making it a versatile and low-cost tool for nanoscale quantum sensing applications. The team is now exploring how to engineer these carbon defects on demand and further use their omnidirectional magnetometry for advanced sensing experiments.

Bluefors has expanded its Syracuse facility by nearly 45%, doubling cryocooler production capacity and enabling the local manufacturing of dilution refrigerators in the United States for the first time. This expansion supports the growing quantum technology industry by increasing Bluefors' cryogenic system capabilities, strengthening its US presence, and introducing a new spare parts hub to improve service for North American customers.

The Leibniz Supercomputing Centre has installed a 20-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer, developed by AQT, as part of a €9.8 million project funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Sciences and the Ministry of Economic Affairs. This system will be integrated into LRZ's supercomputing environment to accelerate quantum research and computation, with the Munich Quantum Software Stack being developed to support seamless hybrid quantum-HPC operations, providing researchers with advanced quantum technology for scientific exploration.

Researchers from the University of Saarlandes, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, and Menlo Systems demonstrated quantum communication protocols over a 14.4 km urban fiber link, achieving quantum entanglement distribution, ion-photon entanglement, and qubit teleportation using a 40Ca+ ion quantum memory and quantum frequency conversion to the telecom C-band. These experiments highlight the potential for integrating quantum networks into existing urban fiber infrastructure.

IQM Quantum Computers announced it has produced 30 full-stack quantum computers at its manufacturing facility in Finland and completed the delivery of six systems to global customers, including VTT in Finland and LRZ in Germany. With the capacity to deliver up to 20 quantum computers annually, IQM is working to lower the cost of quantum computing through industrial-scale manufacturing and plans to open Europe's first quantum processor production facility in Grenoble, France, by 2027.

Leaders from industry, government, academia, and national laboratories gathered at Purdue University on September 9 to discuss the Indiana-Illinois innovation corridor's role in advancing semiconductors, quantum science, and bioscience. The event, hosted by the Council on Competitiveness, Purdue, Argonne National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois System, focused on regional collaboration to build a strategic innovation ecosystem, featuring keynotes and panels on leveraging innovation for national advancement. Participants also explored how the region supports initiatives like the CHIPS and Science Act through research and development in these critical technologies.

Google is transitioning Chrome's hybrid post-quantum key exchange from the experimental Kyber algorithm to the standardized Module Lattice Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM), which has been integrated into BoringSSL. Chrome 131 will no longer support Kyber, offering instead ML-KEM768+X25519 for post-quantum key exchange, while server operators are advised to update their systems to maintain compatibility. This change aligns with the efforts to ensure post-quantum security and address the challenge of key share predictions through an emerging IETF draft for improved server-client communication.

LISTEN

On the most recent episode of Embracing Digital Transformation, Darren Pulsipher, Chief Solution Architect for Public Sector at Intel, sits down with Yuval Boger, CMO of Quera, to discuss the fundamentals and potential applications of quantum computing. They explore how quantum computing can solve complex problems like optimization and simulation across industries and emphasize the importance of businesses preparing now for its future impact.

ENJOY

Quantum computing has had an exciting couple of weeks recently, with announcements from Oxford Ionics, Quantinuum, Microsoft, IBM, and more, but many challenges remain. At the recent Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, experts such as Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger discussed the potential of quantum computers to solve complex problems faster than classical computers, while acknowledging hurdles such as quantum error correction and qubit entanglement. Despite these obstacles, advancements in quantum simulators and the interplay between quantum and classical technologies, particularly AI, are progressing. The speed of progress is not of import — the progress itself is.

WATCH

Dr. Ben Miles, physicist & entrepreneur, sees firsthand the world's first unhackable quantum GPS that uses ultra-cold atoms to change what we know about navigation technology: