News Brief

The software product from evolutionQ is called BasejumpQDN and is designed to help users overcome the limitations of QKD networks. Chief among these is the distance limitation inherent in fiber optic cables due to signal loss. While classical optical communications networks can solve this by installing classical repeaters every few hundred kilometers, the No Cloning theorem for quantum qubits prevents one from copying qubits so creating these types of repeaters is more difficult. BasejumpQDN solves this problem by allowing a user to create a Trusted Node between quantum links that will allow a network to expand beyond the distance limitations. BasejumpQDN [...]

French multi-national information technology company Atos and Brazilian non-profit institution SENAI CIMATEC are teaming together to form the Latin America Quantum Computing Center (LAQCC), a center of excellence for quantum computing dedicated to the business sector. The center will promote adoption of quantum technologies, provide training for workforce development and encourage scientific research. The center will include a unit of the Atos Quantum Learning Machine which is a special purpose simulation system that can simulate algorithms of up to 35 qubits. Additional details about this announcement can be found in the news release located on the Atos website here. May 7, [...]

The interaction of nuclear matter at the atomic and subatomic level can be very complex and difficult to model using classical computers. To help further understanding of what happens with nuclear matter at these levels, particularly under unique conditions like the Big Bang, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is soliciting proposals to research to use Quantum Information Science (QIS) to help scientists better understand these interactions. They have budgeted up to $10 Million for a three year period for support various projects to perform research in this area. The potential scope of the program is quite broad and includes funding [...]

The new center's goal is to develop new quantum computers based upon both ion trap and superconducting technologies. ETH has already developed a superconducting quantum chip with 17 qubits and they are now looking to develop a quantum computer with 100 qubits. The center will initially be funded with 32 million Swiss Francs ($35M USD), will employ about 30 researchers and will be located on the Paul Scherrer Institut campus in Villigen, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland. Additional information is available in a news release posted on the ETH website here. May 5, 2021

The University of Maryland has announced it is setting up a new quantum focused incubator for startup companies that they will call Quantum Startup Foundry. This incubator would be the second quantum focused startup incubator in the United States following the Duality incubator in Chicago that was announced earlier this month. Funding will include an initial $25 million investment from the university’s Discovery Fund with funding from the state of Maryland. Participants will have access to the quantum facilities that already exist at the University of Maryland as well as business mentors who can provide guidance that can help a company [...]

As part of its Budget 2021 A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience proposal, the Canadian government has proposed spending $360 Million Canadian dollars to launch a National Quantum Strategy. The goal is to amplify Canada’s significant strength in quantum research, grow their quantum-ready technologies, companies, and talent, and solidify Canada’s global leadership in quantum technologies. Details of this strategy will be released later this year. Additional information is available on page 149 of the Budget 2021 document available for download here. April 22, 2021

Xanadu has issued a new release of their Pennylane software and it now includes a plug-in that can natively support IonQ's trapped ion machines. This support extends Pennylane's support for already a wide variety of quantum hardware platforms from IBM, Google, Rigetti, AQT, Pasqal, Honeywell, Amazon Braket, and Xanadu's own Strawberry Fields. Additional details are available in a blog posting on the Pennylane website here and a documentation page for the Pennylane-IonQ Plugin here. April 21, 2021

The two companies will work together to demonstrate how hybrid quantum computing technology can solve a “last mile resupply” problem by calculating how autonomous vehicles can resupply army forces from a central base in an optimum way. NEC and D-Wave had signed an agreement in November 2019 to work jointly on sales, marketing and applications development and this is the first such customer engagement the two have had together outside of Japan. Additional details are available in the press release located on the D-Wave website here. April 21, 2021

Qu&Co and LG Electronics (LG) have announced a three year project to develop and test quantum algorithms for multiphysics simulation. The core of the research appears to be based upon a method of "Solving nonlinear differential equations with differentiable quantum circuits" and described by Qu&Co and the University of Exeter in a paper posted on arXiv. This particular paper shows how their algorithm could be used to solve an instance of Navier-Stokes equations, and compute density, temperature and velocity profiles for the fluid flow in a convergent-divergent nozzle. But the potential applications of this technique can be wide ranging, especially for a [...]

Transport for NSW, a ministry of the Australian state of New South Wales is partnering with Q-CTRL to see if quantum computing can help them better manage NSW's complex transportation network. New South Wales, which includes the busy city of Sydney, has multiple trains, busses, ferries, trams and motorways used to move people around. One topic being explored is updating schedules in real time if there is crowding on the network. The demand for public transportation can change dramatically when there are massive public events and the ability to have a quantum computer run an optimization program in real time to [...]