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D-Wave open sources software tool to build foundation for a quantum computing community

Congrats again to Geordie Rose and Vern Brownell for their company’s awesome achievements so far in 2017! I also, would like to take this time to recognize a very special friend of mine Yanbo Xue who continues to do amazing advancements in QC for D-Wave. Congrats Yanbo in your new and incredible role as Research Lead for D-Waves Deep Learning research team and work. I expect we will see many more great things as a result of this great move.


D-Wave open sourced its software tool with the hopes of encouraging more companies to adopt quantum computing technology.

ORNL researchers break data transfer efficiency record

My friends at ORNL just announced they broke a record in the transmittal of information via Qubits this week. We’re getting closer for our QC networking and storage capabilities.


OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 1, 2017 — Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have set a new record in the transfer of information via superdense coding, a process by which the properties of particles like photons, protons and electrons are used to store as much information as possible.

The ORNL team transferred 1.67 bits per qubit, or quantum bit, over a fiber optic cable, edging out the previous record of 1.63 per qubit.

The work by ORNL’s Brian Williams, Ronald Sadlier and Travis Humble is published as “Superdense coding over optical fiber links with complete Bell-state measurements” in Physical Review Letters. The research was selected as an “Editor’s Suggestion,” a distinction reserved for approximately one in six PRL papers.

First ever blueprint unveiled to construct a large scale quantum computer

A blueprint for QC larger servers mass production. The question is; is it the right blueprint for everyone? Not sure.


An international team, led by a scientist from the University of Sussex, have today unveiled the first practical blueprint for how to build a quantum computer, the most powerful computer on Earth.

This huge leap forward towards creating a universal quantum computer is published today (1 February 2017) in the influential journal Science Advances. It has long been known that such a computer would revolutionise industry, science and commerce on a similar scale as the invention of ordinary computers. But this new work features the actual industrial blueprint to construct such a large-scale machine, more powerful in solving certain problems than any computer ever constructed before.

Once built, the computer’s capabilities mean it would have the potential to answer many questions in science; create new, lifesaving medicines; solve the most mind-boggling scientific problems; unravel the yet unknown mysteries of the furthest reaches of deepest space; and solve some problems that an ordinary computer would take billions of years to compute.

Blueprint for a microwave trapped ion quantum computer

More detailed write up on QC Blueprint introduced this week. It does seem to try to address scalability; however, the real test is when we test a smart device and a small server with the blueprint.


The availability of a universal quantum computer may have a fundamental impact on a vast number of research fields and on society as a whole. An increasingly large scientific and industrial community is working toward the realization of such a device. An arbitrarily large quantum computer may best be constructed using a modular approach. We present a blueprint for a trapped ion–based scalable quantum computer module, making it possible to create a scalable quantum computer architecture based on long-wavelength radiation quantum gates. The modules control all operations as stand-alone units, are constructed using silicon microfabrication techniques, and are within reach of current technology. To perform the required quantum computations, the modules make use of long-wavelength radiation–based quantum gate technology. To scale this microwave quantum computer architecture to a large size, we present a fully scalable design that makes use of ion transport between different modules, thereby allowing arbitrarily many modules to be connected to construct a large-scale device. A high error–threshold surface error correction code can be implemented in the proposed architecture to execute fault-tolerant operations. With appropriate adjustments, the proposed modules are also suitable for alternative trapped ion quantum computer architectures, such as schemes using photonic interconnects.

Black holes on an electronic chip

Watch out for the black holes in those QC chips.


Eindhoven professor Rembert Duine has proposed a way to simulate black holes on an electronic chip. This makes it possible to study fundamental aspects of black holes in a laboratory on earth. Additionally, the underlying research may be useful for quantum technologies. Duine (also working at Utrecht University) and colleagues from Chile published their results today in Physical Review Letters.

“Right now, it’s purely theoretical,” says Duine, “but all the ingredients already exist. This could be happening in a lab one or two years from now.” One possibility is in the group of Physics of Nanostructures in the Department of Applied Physics. According to Duine, in these labs experiments are being done that are necessary to create this type of black holes.

Event horizon

Black holes in space are so dense that nothing can escape their gravitational pull once it passes a point of no return called the event horizon. The researchers have now found a way to make such points of no return for spin waves, fluctuations that propagate in magnetic materials. When an electric current runs through the material, the electrons drag these waves along.

Fear sells in the computer security business, and quantum computers could be very scary

Interesting article; however, 2 things missing from it. 1) China has already implemented a QC wireless network and in phase 2 of their work on QC communications which is also involving a QC platform and hacking. 2) Author stated that Mosca believes by 2026 a nation state will have QC. I would suggest Mosca network a little more as China and Sydney are well ahead of schedule plus many of us involved in QC already are testing the scalability of QC on small devices and other platforms v. mammoth servers thanks to much of the new findings last year on proving the reliability and traceability of particles at various complex states of entanglement and information processing as well as the more recent findings of enabling the constant cold temperatures needed to support QC on small servers.

My own estimates is we’re within a 5 year window of being able to see a more pragmatic version of QC as servers and networking for the broader masses. I don’t believe we’re 10 years away or less than 5 years at the moment; however, things could change tomorrow to the point we see the timeline shortened from 5 to 3 years as I do have friends who believe we’re within 3 years.


Even though quantum computers don’t exist yet, security companies are preparing to protect against them.

Cool U of A physicists sought to work with coldest gas

Female Physicist at Uand A in Canada to take on the Bose-Einstein condensate.


By Catherine Griwkowsky

Calling Lindsay LeBlanc’s lab work “cool” would be an understatement.

LeBlanc, the Canada Research chairwoman in ultracold gases for quantum simulation, managed to make Bose-Einstein condensate — a state of matter that is so cold, it’s only 40 billionths of a degree above absolute zero (−273.15C).

Vanishing point: the rise of the invisible computer

Yep; devices and computers will no longer be needed given the advancements that are coming in areas of Quantum, Synbio, nanotech, etc.

However, with QC crystal technology and the work done on parallel states we have some very interesting things coming in communications, entertainment/ media, etc.


The long read: For decades, computers have got smaller and more powerful, enabling huge scientific progress. But this can’t go on for ever. What happens when they stop shrinking?

Scientists have confirmed a brand new form of matter: time crystals

More information on the time crystals to simulate time travel.


Two more teams of researchers have found ways to create time crystals, lattices that repeat not in space but in time, breaking time-translation symmetry.

Though applications are unclear, the research could help us better understand quantum properties and solve the problem of quantum memory associated with quantum computing. Time crystals repeat their atomic structure in time. At the very least, they are a contradiction.

But, as the researchers discovered, time crystals aren’t typical matter.