Quantum: It’s Not All Computing

The applications of quantum technologies will range from optimised supply chains to fighting climate change to life extending medicine. It is no longer a question of if but when, as indicated by the monumental level of investment in technology from governments worldwide. As is often the case with disruptive and emerging technologies, we are experiencing an exciting but sometimes frustrating phase where the lines between the media’s interests, our real-life present situation and our hypothetical future are blurred. This shows on the one hand how broad the impacts of quantum will be and its relevance for a variety of verticals but on the other hand, it can lead to confusion. For example, for several years now predictions of a ‘quantum winter’ – a time when the quantum bubble will supposedly burst – have surfaced periodically, although there is no evidence to show we are heading towards a significant dip in investment. In fact, according to a recent report by McKinsey, in 2022 investors poured $2.35 billion into quantum technology start-ups, overtaking 2021’s record figure for the highest annual level of quantum technology start-up investment.

One explanation for this disconnect is that quantum computing has received the lion’s share of media attention, but quantum is more than just computing: quantum technologies also encompass sensing, encryption, networks and communications. While it is true that quantum computers are still in their relative infancy, other quantum technologies have seen significant breakthroughs in recent years and the level of investment in quantum generally is astonishing. Getting people excited about quantum computing is exactly what we should be doing – it builds on a frame of reference, the classical computer, that we can all understand – but if we only ever talk about quantum computers then we risk painting a skewed picture of where we stand with quantum and downplaying just how soon we will experience the mainstream and commercial success of these technologies.

Governments across the world are investing heavily in quantum, including the UK, where I am based, which earlier this year announced its ￡2.5bn,10-year investment plan into quantum technologies. Quantum is increasingly recognised as a horizontal technology, with the potential to impact across a range of industries and solve a range of problems. Quantum companies are generating revenue now; quantum applications in, for example, specific chemistry application verticals will display advantages over their classical counterparts within a year; and we will likely see significant acquisition events occurring in the next two to three.

It is time to streamline our excitement and focus on the quantum technology successes that we will see before we feel the impacts of totally error-corrected, fault-tolerant and scalable quantum computers. In this article, I outline how a few quantum technologies and applications will impact across sectors and industries in the near-term future.?

Quantum computers in data centres?

It’s not all computing… but sometimes it is. One particularly important development of 2023 has been the installation of quantum computers into data centres. We are at a unique point in human history where we are able to develop cutting edge technologies and immediately share them with millions of people through cloud access. We are seeing exactly this happening at the moment with artificial intelligence – most notably, OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT. It has been fascinating to watch this technology get picked up astronomically quickly by individuals and businesses to the point where governments have stepped in and imposed temporary bans on the tech as they work out how to contain such fast acceleration into the unknown.?

Artificial intelligence can be thought of as quantum’s older sibling; reaching adolescence a few years earlier than quantum. And in 2023 we are seeing the beginnings of quantum’s journey towards broad democratisation and global accessibility. Just this year, Oxford Quantum Circuits, Europe’s premier quantum computing company, announced that it is installing its quantum computers into data centres in Japan and Spain.?

Businesses in, for example, finance, logistics, and energy, will benefit hugely from quantum’s applications for optimization, simulation, and forecasting. Installing quantum computers in major data centres allows them to explore the potential of the technology on real data – one “rack over”, not having to rely on synthetic data – while providing a highly controlled environment, access to necessary infrastructure, and technical expertise. Specifically for the data centres, who are recovering from post-covid expansions and reduced profits, quantum computer installations provide an opportunity to sell new services to their existing clients and boost their profits.?

More broadly, for the state of the quantum ecosystem itself, enabling a larger range of people to access quantum technologies means we can question and correct our processes much more quickly and thoroughly than before, giving us better safeguards against a ‘quantum winter’.?

Sensing changes in the climate?

To put it simply, it is much easier to use the subtleties of qubits (the quantum version of a classical bit) to sense things than it is to create a quantum computer with stable, logical and controlled qubits. Quantum sensors can make measurements with much higher sensitivity than classical sensors by leveraging the fundamental properties of quantum mechanics. They can measure things at the atomic level which we physically cannot measure with other sensors such as magnetic fields, gravity or the properties of individual molecules.???

That manufacturing a quantum sensor is relatively easier and the barrier to success is relatively lower than the mechanics of manufacturing a controlled and isolated quantum computer is the first reason that we will see significant returns on sensing before computing. The second reason is climate change. There is an incentive for developing quantum sensors because of their applications for monitoring changes in the earth. In the short term, we can already see that we are going to exceed the 1.5-degree global temperature increase by 2030 and we know we must start acting quicker and with better tools. There is a sense of urgency with quantum sensing which is driving the steep curve of technological innovation in quantum.?

The true value of quantum sensors comes down to their potential to make clearer the climate problems we are facing. At the moment, we can only reference things that happened in the past, like earthquake events, but we need other ways of convincing the public that we are at a point of urgency. Quantum sensors will help us accurately predict and present data on changes in the earth’s crust, changes in the ocean, and minute instances of subsidence. If we can show, on a large scale, how the earth is moving beneath our feet, then we can bring extreme weather events and catastrophic changes in the earth’s atmosphere into the preventable and mouldable future rather than the fixed and immovable past.?????

Quantum clocks

A quantum clock is another kind of sensor based on the behaviour of atoms and subatomic particles, which exhibit quantum properties such as superposition and entanglement, to measure time more precisely than classical clocks. It is the frequency of the superposition – the ability of a quantum system to be in multiple states, a 1 or a 0, at the same time until it is measured – that measures time.?

Several teams at institutions worldwide have developed quantum logic clocks in the last 15 years or so, but we do not yet have clarity on how to integrate them into our infrastructure on a wide scale. What we do know however is that as humans we rule our lives by the clock on the wall, on our bedside table, on our wrists, in our pockets. We love knowing the time, asking for the time, telling the time and operating according to its laws. It is no surprise then that time – and telling it precisely – has become a foundational building block of the way our society, and its key institutions, are structured. Granted, you won’t ever need a quantum clock to get you up in the morning, but accurate time telling is crucial for defence systems, banks, governmental bodies, GPS and telecommunications.

To take one example, financial services, which tend to be quick on the uptake of new technologies, could be significantly impacted by quantum clocks which will enable more precise independent time measurements for financial transactions. This could have important implications for high-frequency trading (HFT) and other time-sensitive financial activities. HFT is a type of algorithmic trading that uses powerful computers to execute trades at very high speeds. Traders rely on precise timing to gain an advantage in the market, and small differences in timing can result in significant losses. Currently, these clocks are synchronised through our GPS network – the satellites used for finding our location – which given our delicate global situation, are always at some level of risk.

In addition, financial transactions rely on accurate time stamps to prevent fraud and ensure that transactions are processed in the correct order. Quantum clocks could provide a more secure, independent, and tamper-proof way of time-stamping transactions, to prevent fraud and increase the overall security of financial networks.

Quantum and the brain

One potential application of quantum computing I find really exciting is in drug discovery and diagnostics. These quantum advantages largely depend on quantum’s elevated computing power which could enable physicians and researchers to solve problems which are otherwise intractable with classical computers. Notably, this includes the potential to simulate very large, complex molecules, which are actually quantum systems, meaning that a quantum computer can more effectively predict the properties, behaviours and interactions of those molecules at an atomic level. This has huge implications for identifying new drug candidates, the future of personalised medicine, and the ability to assess for abnormalities in tissues which cannot be discerned with the naked eye – or with current computational methods.

However, we don’t have to wait for fully-fledged quantum computing before we see the real-world impacts of quantum technologies in healthcare. Quantum sensing is impacting how we study children’s brains right now, and its positive effects are only set to intensify over the next few years. It is difficult to use traditional brain scanners to study children’s brains because you have to stay very still; with new quantum technology, we can sense changes in a child’s brain much more easily – the trick is that the sensors move with the child! Margot Taylor, a researcher at Toronto University, is using quantum sensors for paediatric imaging to investigate emerging neural signatures of autism in toddlers and young children. This could allow doctors to diagnose children with autism before they develop symptoms of the condition, empower individuals and families with the right care and information they need, and even lead to pharmaceutical developments if a reliable brain signature is found.?

The impacts of quantum will be truly revolutionary. Excitement about the possibilities of quantum technologies has been building for many years; now that we are seeing a significant level of investment flooding in to match that excitement, we need to stay enthusiastic, stay open-minded and focus our attention on the technologies in the quantum portfolio which are having real-world impacts now and in the next few years. It is through thoughtful investment and continued research into these technologies which will enable the development of a fully logical, scalable, world-altering quantum computer.??

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