by Amara Graps
Some people read the patent records to determine the legal boundaries of ideas. I read the patent records to find the stories. In my current slice of quantum technology patent reading, the quantum memory patents not only showed me who is doing what, where, and when, but what is more effective for communication.
Prior Art and State of the Art
Prior Art is specifically tied to evaluating a patent’s novelty based on disclosed or available knowledge at a given point, whereas State of the Art is a broader concept encompassing the general, current understanding in a field.
In my previous QCR article, I used the Prior Art section of a Sorbonne Universite / Welinq Inventors Patent, that listed demos of that technology as a helpful short-cut to educate myself on the evolution of the subfield.
In this article, I want to use the State of the Art section with its ‘Problem’ and ‘Solution’ of a Uniwersytet Warszawski Patent to show an effective communication. Their patent-clip first caught my attention:
“Unexpectedly, the invention described in the present patent application solves several technical problems simultaneously. The invention makes it possible to transmit quantum key qubits over longer distances (about 150 km), compared to existing State of the Art solutions (about 100 km), while maintaining an increased transmission frequency of key ebits. Furthermore, at the same time, the invention allows multiplexing of quantum optical signals, so that more optical signals are sent in one transmission channel.”
Interestingly, the Patent application doesn’t establish Prior Art. Instead, it provides an astonishingly readable and great context in The State of the Art section with Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), then quantum repeaters, including quantum satellites, then magneto-optical traps for neutral atoms, and quantum memories based on a cloud of cold rubidium-87 atoms, where hundreds of angular modes of light are generated simultaneously. The latter is that Warsaw group’s specialty.
In addition, the ‘Similar Documents’ at the bottom of the page in the WO application of the Quantum Memory Patent read like a Quantum Communication (QKD, Quantum Satellite) Reading Library
Despite not establishing Prior Art, the patent was granted in only one year and eight months through the EP office. The group’s WO international patent is pending. So, the Patent Lessons Learned are:
- ‘EP’ is shorter-time-to-grant than ‘WO’,
- an excellent ‘State of the Art’ section can go a long way, and
- this university has golden patent writing skills.
In fact, ‘Patent writing skills’ are a ‘must’ skillset to include, for those people building quantum technology Ecosystems.
Record-breaking Quantum Memories
My main introduction to this Uniwersytet Warszawski research group, was via two online appearances of group leader: Michał Parniak-Niedojadło in
- A 22 August 2024 Polish podcast interview “This is IT” by Maciej Kawecki (post). (*) See the next Figure for a key moment in the Interview.
- In an 18 August 2023 (poor audio, unfortunately) CU Boulder presentation: Quantum Memories and Sensors based on Neutral Atoms
The interviewer: Maciej Kawecki introduced Michal in this post:
“For me, Michał is […] the most outstanding young Polish experimenter in physics. […] as a young PhD candidate, Michał Parniak didn’t know that quantum memory was being created in China for huge financial resources. When the Poles published their results in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, it turned out that their memory was three times faster than the Chinese one and was the fastest quantum memory known to humanity.”
The papers referenced here were probably: Parniak et al., 2017, where their results described 665 separated modes simultaneously, and this paper by Pu et al., 2017, which described multiplexed quantum memory with 225 individually accessible memory cells. I found these via Connected Papers, where the Chinese activity in quantum communication is clear.
Now the competition between Parniak’s group and Chinese researchers appears to be more explicit. There are new 2024 research results and a new quantum memories record from another Chinese group referencing Parniak et al., 2017, and going beyond. See Wei et al., 2024: Quantum storage of 1650 modes of single photons at telecom wavelength.
China is well-known for its quantum communication/networking expertise. I’d like to remind you that their skills are being developed in other areas, as well. In a previous QCR article, we wrote of evidence from new results about a superconducting quantum chip that indicates China’s merging of Quantum Communication and Quantum Computing. See also their Patent Record in the next Figure, where there is a steady growth of the quantum computing patents colored in green, proportionally to the quantum communication domain patents, colored in purple.
Podcasters – Provide a Couple of References, Please
The quantum memories subfield is wide and deep. The local interviewers have an excellent eye and ear to their local researchers and companies performing world-class work.
A recent example is Jousef Murad’s August 20, 2023 Deep Dive #105 podcast, where Juha Riippi, CEO & Cofounder of Quanscient provided the ‘Why’ for Lattice Boltzmann and Lattice Gas Automata methods (and provided my push to research QRAM).
“[…] the main problem with any of these methods is data input and output, there’s no Quantum memory, Quantum RAM, so you cannot input an arbitrary matrix into a quantum computer, and you can’t read the full solution. You can only extract for example some global properties, like the integral of the solution.”
For Maciej Kawecki’s Interview of Michał Parniak-Niedojadło, once I turned on the translation (*), the 30 minute, professional Polish podcast interview was super interesting and helped me to sift through the quantities of research material. Maciej Kawecki might find tech viewers outside of Poland with an extra tweak:
Ask the Interviewee for a couple of References for the topic discussed in the Interview.
A Suggestion to European investors: Cast your Net wider in Europe to those people on the Edges!
(*) To translate to English, turn on subtitles, then fix settings to auto-translate from Polish to English. Thank you for providing subtitle capabilities.
(**) Quantum Tech in China by GQI and QuIC is a nearly 80-page report that is the most comprehensive analysis of China’s quantum technology to date. If you are interested to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact [email protected].
November 10, 2024
