Understanding quantum technology, a new battleground between the United States and China | Technology

The 15-page report recommends goals that Donald Trump's government must pursue to develop and strengthen its quantum technological capabilities – which essentially consist of moving from the current binary system of traditional computing to a system based on small molecules, which would allow an exponential increase in information processing.

To discuss the strategies presented, government officials and leading financial and technology companies across the country, such as Alphabet (IBM holding company), IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell and Northrop. Grumman (the last three devoted to the aerospace and defense industry).

He also announced an investment of 249 million USD (966.5 million R $) for the realization of 118 projects related to this scientific field.

On the other side of the world, a similar movement is underway in China: the Beijing government is building a new national quantum computing laboratory in Hefei, at a cost of 10 billion dollars, which must be inaugurated. in 2020.

This occurs after the launch, two years ago, of what has been described as the first quantum communications satellite and the announcement in 2017 of the creation of a network of so-called "impossible to invade" communication, to which only 200 users have access: military personnel, civil servants and employees of private companies in positions of responsibility.

Competition between the two largest world powers for the development of quantum technology demonstrates the importance of this area which, for some theorists, is so powerful that it can transform the world.

Instead of using "a" and "zero" in de long sequences, as in clbadical computation, a quantum bit – or qubit – util ise the properties of subatomic particles.

The electrons or photons can be, for example, in two states at once – a phenomenon called superposition. As a result, a computer qubit can perform calculations much faster than a conventional computer.

"If you have a two-qubit computer and you add two qubits, you'll have a four-qubit computer, but that will not double the power of the computer – it will grow exponentially," Martin Giles, San Francisco Office of the MIT Technology Review.

Thus, quantum technologies promise a revolution in the treatment of information, says Alejandro Pozas-Kerstjens, a researcher at the Institute of Photonic Sciences of Barcelona (Spain) and the group of theory of the 39, quantum information.

"All the information is coded in a binary system – in zeros and zeros – but in the 1960s, it was discovered that where this information is stored can result in differences in the possibilities of Use, "he says.

"That is, I can record conventional information on a computer chip, as we do today, but we can also arm those zeros and some other smaller systems, such as that simple atoms or small molecules, because they are so small, is dictated by other rules: those of the quantum world ".

The goal of the science of quantum information is to use these new quantum properties to improve the processing and transmission of information, among other benefits.

The promise is that CIC is a revolution in how to process information, which should open up thousands of opportunities in areas such as health, science and defense systems. It is for these reasons that the most powerful nations of the world have competed to take the lead in this area.

Judging by the progress made so far in the field of quantum technology, China may have a long way to go.

In 2016, Beijing announced that it had launched the first quantum communications satellite and, a year later, was able to use this satellite to establish encrypted communications that could not be decrypted by external agents.

"It was two experiments: the first had obtained a quantum communication with the Earth's satellite and later, this satellite was used to establish a communication between two points of the Earth, with an encrypted signal in a quantitative way, "explains Pozas-Kerstjens.

This possibility of knowing whether information has been intercepted or has arrived at its destination can not be obtained with the traditional technologies or methods of information transfer that we currently use.

The Chinese experiments, however, remain pilot projects. "They have proven that this could be done, but for now, the viability of extensive [em escala] industrial applications has not been reached," said Pozas-Kerstjens.

This viability has not been realized either in the field of quantum computing. Many companies in many countries are trying to develop it, which for the moment is experimental, but not commercial.

"The quantum computer is, for the moment, a holy grail," continues Pozas-Kerstjens. "It's the direction in which all efforts in the field of quantum information science go, directly or indirectly."

The clbadical computer-based bit only uses information in two states: zero or one (enabled or disabled). Quantum, for its part, also works with the superposition of the two states and uses the movement of subatomic particles to process data in quantities impossible for a clbadical calculation.

Although this technology is currently at a theoretical level, it is expected that, at some point, calculations will be made for traditional computers to appear obsolete.

In the United States, companies like IBM, Google and Microsoft are developing their own quantum computers. The same thing is happening in China, with local companies like Alibaba and Baidu.

But it's not easy to build quantum computers: the main problem is the number of quantum bits that a computer can achieve. According to some information, Google would lead the development of a processor with power qubits.

In addition, there are barriers to maintenance because these future computers require extremely low temperatures to operate. The development of quantum computers operating at room temperature is one of the main axes of ongoing research.

For Pozas-Kerstjens, quantum technology has a revolutionary potential similar to that of the first personal computers, because it changes the way we do very expensive things, such as drug manufacturing or channel optimization. circulation to reduce costs. spent on fuel. "

" This kind of problem will be a problem that can be solved with a quantum computer, "he says.

But the greatest interest of governments is perhaps the quantum potential of defense – of security communications to the management of intrusion planes.

And does anyone really win this conflict? For Pozas-Kerstjens, it is a "multi-headed race" that takes place.