Weekend News Roundup
Hacking quantum cryptography , Chinese military A.I. and physical philosophy
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Enjoy my recent news scan:
IBM just created this new way to measure the speed of quantum processors
IBM has run CLOPS to benchmark several of the company's quantum processors, ranging from five-qubit systems to 65-qubit devices. Although all of the quantum computers had a similar quantum volume, IBM's researchers found vast differences in speed: the largest machine performed the slowest, at a CLOPS of 753 layers per second, compared to 1,419 for the smallest processor. Source: ZDNET.
Hackers are stealing data today so quantum computers can crack it in a decade
Faced with this “harvest now and decrypt later” strategy, officials are trying to develop and deploy new encryption algorithms to protect secrets against an emerging class of powerful machines. That includes the Department of Homeland Security, which says it is leading a long and difficult transition to what is known as post-quantum cryptography. Source: MIT Technology Review.
Innovative chip built by UCPH physicists resolves quantum headache
Spin qubits have the advantage of maintaining their quantum states for a long time. This potentially allows them to perform faster and more flawless computations than other platform types. And, they are so miniscule that far more of them can be squeezed onto a chip than with other qubit approaches. The more qubits, the greater a computer’s processing power. The UCPH team has extended the state of the art by fabricating and operating four qubits in a 2x2 array on a single chip. Source: University of Copenhagen.
Electrically switchable nanoantennas could enable holographic video technology
Karst created a simple hologram metasurface from the nanoantennas that could deflect an infrared laser beam 10 degrees onto one side by applying a voltage. Currently, he is working on making this deflection available for many angles for applications in LIDAR devices in autonomous vehicles, of keen interest to the automotive industry. Additionally, Karst created a hologram that behaves like an optical lens, which can be turned on and off by simply applying ±1 Volt. This technology is crucial for future smartphone cameras or optical sensors that could be zoomed from wide angle to telephoto by switching the applied voltage. Currently, up to four lenses are required for this functionality. Source: PhysOrg.
Harnessed Lightning: How the Chinese Military is Adopting Artificial Intelligence
This report examines nearly 350 artificial intelligence-related equipment contracts awarded by the People’s Liberation Army and state-owned defense enterprises in 2020 to assess how the Chinese military is adopting AI. Source: CSET.
The untold story of the world’s biggest nuclear bomb
Designed to have a maximum explosive yield of 100 million tons (or 100 megatons) of TNT equivalent, the 60,000-pound monster bomb was detonated at only half its strength. Still, at 50 megatons, it was more than 3,300 times as powerful as the atomic bomb that killed at least 70,000 people in Hiroshima, and more than 40 times as powerful as the largest nuclear bomb in the US arsenal today. Its single test represents about one tenth of the total yield of all nuclear weapons ever tested by all nations. Source: The Bulletin.
The demons haunting thermodynamics
When Maxwell was writing over 150 years ago, the possibility of manipulating individual molecules might have seemed far-fetched, but that’s no longer the case today. From purpose-built experimental apparatuses to molecular machines found in nature, devices similar to Maxwell’s demon abound. For example, biomolecular machines use ratchet-style mechanisms akin to the version of Maxwell’s demon devised by Richard Feynman in a 1962 lecture. Source: Physics Today.