Wired together? Algorithm distributed between distinct quantum processors with photonic interconnect

Quantum Campus shares the latest in quantum science and technology from university campuses. We publish on Fridays and are always looking for news from researchers across the country. Want to see your work featured? Submit your ideas to the editor.

Wired

Oxford researchers announced on Wednesday that they were able to “'wire together' distinct quantum processors into a single, fully-connected quantum computer," Dougal Main, the study’s lead author, said in an announcement.

Although others have achieved quantum teleportation of states, this study is the first implementation of a distributed quantum algorithm of several non-local two-qubit gates. Two photonically interconnected trapped-ion modules, separated by about 10 feet, executed Grover’s search algorithm. The modules each contained dedicated network and circuit qubits. By using heralded remote entanglement between the network qubits, the team deterministically teleported a logical gate between two circuit qubits in separate modules.

The team’s work was published in Nature.

What’s your vector, Victor?

A team from the University of Colorado Boulder developed an optically pumped magnetometer able to measure the orientation of a magnetic field to an accuracy of nearly a one-hundredth of a degree. Optically pumped magnetometers use the ensemble behavior of metals’ atoms trapped as hot vapors to measure a magnetic field’s characteristics. They are considered excellent sensors for measuring the strength of a field. Without a reference magnetic field, however, they are not typically able to determine the direction of a field.

“Atoms can tell you a lot,” CU Boulder’s Cindy Regal said in an announcement. “We’re data mining them to glean simultaneously whether magnetic fields are changing by extremely small amounts and what direction those fields point.” With additional development, these vector magnetometers may be used in future medical imaging and navigation applications.

This work was published in Optica.

Speaking of…

Popular Mechanics went deep in a story on the race between the United States and China to develop exquisitely sensitive quantum magnetometers and other quantum sensors for use on military submarines. The article discusses ways the instruments, including Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices, could assist in both determining the location of and detecting a new generation of subs.

These instruments “could not only help submarines sense where they are without risking exposure, but also elevate a tactical advantage in anti-submarine warfare and intelligence-gathering,” according to the article.

Read more in Popular Mechanics.

OSTP nominee

The New York Times asked: “Why Trump Picked a Science Adviser Who Isn’t a Scientist?” in an article by one of the paper’s longtime science reporter, William J. Broad.

Michael Kratsios, who holds a BA in political science from Princeton, was nominated in January to be the president’s science advisor and head of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Critics in the article call the nomination an “utter disaster.” Others came to Kratsios’ defense, including meteorology researcher Kelvin Droegemeier, former head of OSTP and member of the National Science Board. “He has a really good vision for things and a sense of what needs to be done,” Droegemeier said.

The article explained that Kratsios held several technology policy posts in the first Trump administration, including oversight of initiatives in AI, quantum computing, and cybersecurity. At the end of Trump’s first term, Kratsios was acting under secretary of defense for research and engineering, where he oversaw an array of research units and DARPA.

Read the full article in the New York Times.

Quickbits

• Case Western and University of Illinois show plasmons in boron-doped diamonds (Nature Communications)

• New quantum sensors for radar and secure communications (IEEE Spectrum)

• ORNL transmits entangled quantum signal using multiple wavelength channels and automatic polarization stabilization over EPB commercial network

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