Random circuit sampling to reduce noise? Google says yes

This is a preview issue of Quantum Campus, sharing the latest in quantum science and technology from university campuses. We publish every Friday and are always looking for news from researchers across the country. Want to see your work featured? Submit your ideas to the editor.

Near-field energy transfer

Argonne National Lab and the University of Chicago proposed a method of near-field energy transfer between localized quantum emitters in solids. The first-principles simulations, published in Physical Review Research, showed how optical data may be transferred from a rare earth element embedded within a solid material to a nearby quantum defect. They created models of a theoretical material interspersed with atoms of narrow band rare-earth emitters. These atoms absorb light and re-emit that light at specific, narrow wavelengths. The researchers showed how this narrow wavelength light could then be captured by a nearby quantum defect.

Read the University of Chicago announcement.

Random circuit sampling

Combining experimental and theoretical work, Google used random circuit sampling to establish the existence of phase transitions to a stable, computationally complex phase. They used the findings to argue that there are conditions under which quantum processors can operate with low noise.

Their experiments showed two phase transitions observable with cross-entropy benchmarking — one “a dynamical transition as a function of the number of cycles and is the continuation of the anti-concentration point in the noiseless case” and the other “a quantum phase transition controlled by the error per cycle.”

Read Google’s paper in Nature.

Praise Canada

The Globe the Mail took a deep dive on the state of Canada’s quantum industry. Highlighting the nation’s small- and medium-sized businesses, the article said:

“According to Quantum Industry Canada, a national trade group for quantum technology companies, the industry now counts 70 businesses coast-to-coast, mostly small and medium sized startups. Together they employ roughly 2,600, making it the second largest player in the industry globally after the United States, and first on a per-capita basis.

‘We’ve got this incredible portfolio of trail-blazing companies in this space, and the talent that’s here has been really incredible as well,’ says Lisa Lambert, the organization’s CEO. ‘With its 40 million people, Canada is also in a sweet spot for size, where we can be coordinating, collaborating and leveraging our different strengths across the country, which can be a lot more challenging in other jurisdictions.’”

Read the story in The Globe and Mail.

Quantum security for deep learning

A team from Purdue demonstrated one-dimensional boron nitride nanotubes containing spin qubits. The work was published in Nature Communications.

“BNNT spin qubits are more sensitive to detecting off-axis magnetic fields than a diamond nitrogen-vacancy center, which is primarily sensitive to fields that are parallel to its axis, but not perpendicular,” according to the project’s PI Tongcang Li. “BNNTs also are more cost-effective and offer more resilience than brittle diamond tips.”

Read Purdue’s announcement.

Quickbits

• University of Colorado and NIST developed a new quantum clock based on a lattice of strontium atoms

• The Max Planck–New York Center on Non-Equilibrium Quantum Phenomena announced a five-year extension of its funding

• University of Connecticut teased the details of its November Quantum Computing Workshop

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