World Frontier Technology Development Report 2023 "World Information Technology Development Report" (3) Quantum Information Technology

Data comes from: "World Frontier Technology Development Report 2023" and the Internet

1 Overview

Quantum information technology is an emerging discipline developed on the basis of physics and computer science research. It involves the study of quantum information and its applications. It may revolutionize many fields of science and technology, including computing, communications, cryptography and transmission. feel. Quantum information is a kind of information based on the principles of quantum mechanics, including quantum states, such as the polarization or spin of a single particle, and the entanglement of multiple particles. Xue Qikun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that among many scientific and technological fields, second-generation quantum technology, including quantum computing, is a disruptive technology that, once implemented, may trigger a new industrial technology revolution. At present, the world is on the eve of the second quantum technology revolution. The huge potential application value of the three major technical directions of quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum sensing in the fields of national defense, finance, big data, biopharmaceuticals and other fields has aroused the attention of major world science and technology. Powerful countries and high-tech companies attach great importance to it.

2. Quantum Computing

Quantum computers have ultra-high computing speeds and have the potential to solve computing tasks that classical computers cannot complete in a short time, including solving multi-body problems, solving optimization problems and cracking classic encryption codes. These applications have the potential to have a significant impact in fields such as medicine, finance, and artificial intelligence, as well as bring about new breakthroughs and discoveries in science and technology.

2.1 Alibaba Damo Academy successfully developed a two-bit quantum chip with a single-bit control accuracy exceeding 99.97%

In March 2022, China’s Alibaba Company’s Damo Academy Quantum Laboratory successfully developed a two-bit quantum chip. A report from DAMO Academy Quantum Laboratory shows that the team successfully designed and manufactured a two-bit quantum processor based on the new Fluxonium superconducting qubits, achieving a single-bit control accuracy of over 99.97%, and a two-bit iSWAP gate control accuracy of up to 99.72%. It has achieved the world's best level of this type of bit, and its performance is close to the industry's mainstream Transmon bit. Currently, the control accuracy of two Transmon bit gates can reach up to 99.85% to 99.87%, a record set by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and IBM. On another topic of chip preparation, the superconducting qubit based on titanium nitride prepared by the Quantum Laboratory of DAMO Academy can reproducibly reach 300 microseconds in the most critical performance indicator of coherence duration, reaching the world's fastest speed. First class level.

2.2 Canadian company Xanadu develops programmable optical quantum computer

In June 2022, Canadian startup Xanadu developed an optical quantum computer called Borealis. The Borealis computer can perform calculations by measuring the behavior of up to 216 entangled photons, completing the Gaussian Bose sampling task in 36 microseconds. In addition, Borealis is also the world’s first computer with quantum supremacy that can provide services to the public through the cloud. According to Xanadu, Borealis is programmable and scalable, helping to solve complex problems in areas such as next-generation battery development, drug discovery, finance and logistics.

2.3 US company NVIDIA launches development architecture for classical-quantum hybrid computing

In July 2022, the American company NVIDIA released a programming development architecture called Quantum Optimized Device Architecture (QODA), aiming to create a single programming environment for classical-quantum hybrid computing. The development architecture is similar to the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) platform launched by NVIDIA for parallel computing development, but it combines more quantum expertise and is committed to making it easier for more software developers to use. NVIDIA's graphics processor technology will play an important role in quantum circuit simulation because graphics processors can implement state vector and tensor network methods to accelerate quantum circuit simulation. The QODA architecture will have interfaces to general-purpose programming languages ​​such as C++ and Python, as well as compilers compatible with both quantum and classical computing instructions. Classical-quantum hybrid computing architectures are expected to play an important role in drug discovery, chemistry, finance, and engineering optimization.

2.4 Japan’s National Institute of Natural Sciences developed the fastest two-qubit gate

In August 2022, researchers at Japan's National Institute of Natural Sciences (NINS) successfully developed the fastest two-qubit gate using two single atoms. The researchers used optical tweezers to arrange two ultracold rubidium atoms at micron-scale intervals and used a special laser to manipulate the atoms for 10 picoseconds to observe their changes. Two electrons trapped in the smallest orbits of two adjacent atoms are knocked into Rydberg orbits. The interaction between these rubidium atoms then causes a periodic back-and-forth exchange of orbital shape and electron energy with a period of 6.5 nanoseconds. After an oscillation, the laws of quantum physics dictate that the sign of the wave function is flipped, thus achieving the dual-qubit gate function. The research is expected to advance the development of cold-atom quantum hardware.

2.5 The world’s top 100 quantum computing patents are announced, with US companies accounting for 40% of the list

In October 2022, Chinese intellectual property service provider IPRdaily announced the list of the top 100 quantum computing patents in the world. The list statistically ranks the number of invention patent applications in the field of quantum computing published globally as of October 18, 2022. The field of quantum computing technology in this ranking is limited to quantum computing processing systems and methods, quantum circuit operation methods and devices, quantum state tomography methods and devices, quantum program conversion methods and devices, quantum logic gate operation optimization methods, ultrasonic Technical fields such as conduction subprocessors and quantum measurement and control do not include technical fields such as quantum key encryption and anti-quantum cryptography. The top 100 companies on the list mainly come from 18 countries and regions, with the United States accounting for 40%, China accounting for 15%, and Japan accounting for 11%. Among them, IBM of the United States ranked first with 1,323 patents, Google and D-Wave of Canada ranked second and third with 762 and 501 patents respectively. Fifteen Chinese companies including Origin Quantum, Baidu Netcom, Inspur, Tencent Technology, Huawei, and Alibaba were shortlisted.

2.6 IBM in the United States releases a quantum computer with 433 qubits

In November 2022, IBM of the United States released Osprey, a quantum computer with 433 qubits. Its number of qubits is more than three times that of the 127-qubit Eagle quantum computer launched in 2021. At the same time, IBM Senior Vice President Dario Gil said that IBM will continue to expand on this basis and eventually launch a quantum system with millions of qubits.

3. Quantum communication

In 2022, quantum communication research will continue to develop in the direction of long-distance, high efficiency, and high capacity, and continue to reach new highs in indicators such as transmission rate, delay, transmission distance, and fidelity. At present, quantum communication technology has successively made new progress and breakthroughs, and its potential applications have been further expanded, and it is expected to profoundly transform global communication methods.

3.1 Chinese university researchers achieve high-efficiency quantum entanglement purification, which can be used for quantum communications

In January 2022, the joint research team of the University of Science and Technology of China and Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications achieved definite entanglement purification in the laboratory for the first time. The researchers first prepared space-polarization super-entanglement in the laboratory, and then added noise to the polarization entanglement. After purification operations, the fidelity of the polarization entanglement was increased from 0.268 to 0.989. The new method adopted this time requires only a pair of super-entanglements to achieve purification. It is theoretically estimated that the purification efficiency of the new method can be increased by 1 billion times, which is very beneficial to improving the speed of quantum relay and can provide technical support for long-distance quantum communication through high-efficiency quantum relay in the future.

3.2 China’s Tsinghua University breaks quantum security direct communication distance record

In April 2022, Professor Long Guilu's team from the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University and Professor Lu Jianhua's team from the Department of Electronics collaborated to realize for the first time a quantum direct communication system with mixed encoding of phase quantum states and time-stamp quantum states with a communication distance of 100 kilometers. This new system can increase the maximum tolerable loss from 5.1 decibels to 18.4 decibels at a laser pulse frequency of 50 MHz. Among commercial low-loss single-mode optical fibers, the longest communication distance reaches 102.2 kilometers, directly breaking through the previous The longest distance is 18 kilometers. Although the system's transmission rate is only 0.54 bits per second, it is sufficient to send messages and voice data. The researchers also say the system is partially compatible with existing Internet infrastructure.

3.3 Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands achieved qubit teleportation between non-adjacent nodes

In May 2022, researchers at Delft University of Technology (TUD) in the Netherlands achieved Quantum Teleportation between non-adjacent nodes. The researchers used the Nitrogen Vacancy System to capture electrons through a very small space in synthetic diamonds and successfully transmitted data between three nodes, achieving qubit teleportation for communication between multiple sites. Previously, researchers could only perform similar communications between two nodes. A breakthrough in this research is expected to advance the development of a large-scale quantum internet.

3.4. Austrian researchers achieve continuous entanglement distribution on a 248-kilometer cross-border optical fiber link

In October 2022, researchers from the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information-Vienna (IQOQI-Vienna) in Vienna, Austria, successfully distributed polarization entangled signals directly in a 248-kilometer transnational telecommunications fiber from Austria to Slovakia. Photon pairs set a new record for the longest distance of entanglement distribution based on practical optical fibers. The research team actively stabilized polarization in an efficient and non-local manner, allowing the communication link to operate continuously for 110 hours, achieving a 75% duty cycle, and taking into account the limited key effect, the total key length was 258 kilobits.

3.5 The University of Pennsylvania in the United States has developed a new quantum communication chip, doubling the quantum information space

In November 2022, a research team from the University of Pennsylvania developed a new type of micro laser chip, which is safer and more robust than existing quantum communication hardware. The research team uses ultra-dimensional spin-orbit microlasers to generate high-dimensional qubits to upgrade the capabilities of the laser, which can manipulate and couple orbital angular momentum and spin to generate a four-level system. The technology can communicate through "quantum electrical codes" with multiple energy levels, doubling the quantum information space of the laser. Relevant research results were published in the journal Nature.

4. Quantum sensing

Quantum sensors exploit the unique properties of quantum systems, such as superposition and entanglement, to achieve higher accuracy and sensitivity, providing unprecedented accuracy and sensitivity in the measurement of physical quantities, enabling precise measurements at the atomic and molecular scale. The characteristics of quantum sensing have broad application potential in precision measurement, navigation, materials science, environmental monitoring and other fields.

4.1 The U.S. Army develops a new quantum sensor that can detect cross-band electromagnetic radiation

In June 2022, the U.S. Army Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center (C5ISR Center) announced that it was developing an ali... Rydberg Quantum Sensor. The quantum sensor can detect signals between long-wavelength bands, short-wavelength bands and traditional wavebands, which can further enhance soldiers' battlefield communications, spectrum sensing and electronic warfare capabilities. The researchers first used a laser beam to generate Rydberg atoms directly above the microwave circuit. They used the different reactions of Rydberg atoms when exposed to different electromagnetic fields to determine the electric field around the atoms, and then sensitively detected the radio frequency spectrum from zero frequency to 20 gigahertz. Broad signal. This type of sensor has been proven in experiments to be able to operate continuously in a wide frequency range. It is expected to break through the limitations of traditional electronic devices in terms of sensitivity, bandwidth and frequency range, and bring breakthrough innovations to the US Army in spectrum sensing, electronic warfare and other aspects.

4.2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has developed a quantum sensor that can detect electromagnetic signals at any frequency.

In June 2022, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States developed a new system that allows quantum sensors to detect electromagnetic signals of any frequency without losing their ability to measure nanoscale features. The research team calls the new system a "Quantum Mixer" that uses a beam of microwaves to inject a second frequency into the detector, converting the frequency of the detection target into "the difference between the original frequency and the frequency of the new signal." This simple process enables the detector to be tuned to any desired frequency without losing the sensor's nanoscale spatial resolution.

4.3 Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan has developed a diamond quantum sensor that can accurately detect battery power.

In September 2022, Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan developed a diamond-based quantum sensor that can reduce the ambiguity of estimating battery power under high current conditions to 1%. Typically, electric vehicle batteries can draw hundreds of amps of current, and commercial sensors that can detect this current are unable to measure small changes in milliamp-level current, resulting in an estimated 10% ambiguity in EV estimates of battery charge. sex. Tokyo Institute of Technology researchers used two diamond quantum sensors to create a prototype sensor that uses differential detection technology to eliminate the common noise detected by the two sensors and retain only the actual signal, allowing it to operate in the range of -50 A to 130 A A small current of 10 mA was detected. This research is expected to play a role in improving battery efficiency, reducing energy consumption, and extending the cruising range of electric vehicles.

4.4 The University of Chicago improves the performance of quantum sensors by 100 times

In September 2022, researchers at the University of Chicago developed a new method that can increase the sensitivity of solid-state quantum sensors by 100 times. Generally, solid-state quantum sensors rely on quantum effects to perform detection and are susceptible to external interference. In particular, the energy released by qubits in photon bursts may introduce noise and affect the sensitivity of the sensor. University of Chicago researchers have found that if they allow superradiant decay, a phenomenon known as bursts of photons, to occur only for a limited time, they can keep half as many qubits intact while significantly amplifying the signals within them. The researchers point out that coupling microwaves or mechanical resonators to qubits in the Nitrogen Vacancy-centered quantum sensor can achieve superradiant amplification before performing a readout operation, which will greatly increase the sensitivity of the device. The researchers are currently working to improve the scalability of the method.

4.5 French scientists develop a quantum accelerometer that can perform three-dimensional measurements

In October 2022, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) developed a quantum accelerometer that can perform three-dimensional measurements. The casing of the three-dimensional accelerometer is a 40-centimeter-long metal box containing three lasers and a small glass box filled with rubidium atoms. To measure changes in motion, the researchers controlled three laser beams to illuminate the atoms along the length, width, and height of the box, forcing the atoms to collide and produce ripples whose properties depended on the movement of the accelerometer. By analyzing the ripple pattern, a quantum accelerometer can calculate the laser's acceleration. In the future, this result is expected to help ships navigate without Global Positioning System (GPS) signals and can also be used to more accurately map the interior of the Earth.

4.6 A research team from the University of Colorado Boulder has made new breakthroughs in the field of quantum sensing

In November 2022, a research team at the University of Colorado Boulder made significant progress in the field of quantum sensing using a new model. The research team used a practical optical fiber source to simulate the internal loss, external phase noise and low efficiency of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and generated the Holland-Burnett entangled state from the dual-mode compressed vacuum. The research method significantly reduces internal losses and phase noise and demonstrates the potential gains of quantum-based sensitivity methods. This research is of great significance for optical fiber-based quantum enhanced remote sensing and photosensitive material detection. Relevant research was published in the journal Optics Express.