The Challenge
In this competition, we will have some fun playing games using quantum entanglement!

It turns out that two remote network nodes can use pre-established quantum entanglement to instantanesouly coordinate their actions much better than what is possible on the classical internet. Here, we will have fun coordinating on playing games: if two players in a network play games, they can use quantum entanglement to coordinate their actions better than what is possible classically and thus win the game more often.

In the basic variant of this competition, you will implement a toy example of such a game also known as Mermin’s game. Here will challenge two players to play  a game in which they color in a 3×3 grid: Alice gets to color a row and Bob a column subject to some conditions. They win if they filled the grid consistently and satisfy the conditions. It turns out that no classical strategy can win the game with certainty. However, by using quantum entanglement, Alice and Bob can achieve perfect coordination and win the game every time! We provide a basic piece of code for you, from which you can work to implement this game.

Submissions
As usual, the sky is the limit on what you wish to do for this programming competition: anything quantum network goes. Here some random ideas for you, starting with the game above:

– Implement a visual interface for the game!
– Make a library and/or classical protocol running and evaluating such games!
– Explore how your game performs in the presence of noise
– …

Prize
The programming competition is open for all ages and backgrounds. Deadline for submissions is 19 of october 2018 – i.e. you have 3 months to shine. Submissions by teams are also welcome. The first prize is again a summer internship at QuTech (if you are a team, for up to 3 participants).

Jury
Jaya Baloo (KPN)
Corsin Pfister (KPN)
Axel Dahlberg (QuTech)
Stephanie Wehner (QuTech)

Instructions
Detailed instructions can be found here: http://www.simulaqron.org/competition/

We look forward to your submissions!

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Leo’s research focuses on quantum computing with superconducting circuits. It is his ambition to realize the first scalable prototype of a quantum computer, with integrated quantum hardware, control electronics and software. This research combines traditional solid-state physics with electrical and computer engineering. Leo and his team pursue this goal working closely with academic and non-academic engineers in QuTech, as well as key industrial partners such as Intel and Zurich Instruments.

The post Leo DiCarlo appointed as Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professor appeared first on QuTech.

Quantum computers – which are governed by the strange physics of subatomic particles, and allow powerful calculations that no traditional computer is capable of – have instead been built with esoteric materials, including superconductors, that are easier to control in their fragile quantum states. The trade-offs: working with such technology is expensive, and producing such circuitry at scale would require inventing entirely new industrial processes. Menno Veldhorst has solved this by using the most replicated manmade structure on the planet – the transistor. He was able to demonstrate calculations on the basic units of quantum information, known as qubits, in silicon semiconductors.

Collaboration with Intel

Now, based on Veldhorst’s breakthrough, Intel is printing hundreds of thousands of such simple systems on the same type of wafers the company uses to make its conventional chips. This means collaborators at Intel can increasingly spend their time on the microelectronics and algorithms necessary for complete quantum computers rather than working through basic physics. What’s most exciting to Veldhorst is that – just like with the birth of the transistor and the computer age – a flood of quantum computers will need to be built and put into the hands of researchers for science to really know what they are capable of. Veldhorst’s research has allowed just that.

MIT Technology Review

Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Technology Review has been writing about technology since 1899. Now a global media company, Technology Review publishes a yearly list of 35 outstanding innovators under 35. Learn more about this year’s honorees on the MIT Technology Review website.

The post Menno Veldhorst named to MIT Technology Review’s 2018 Innovators Under 35 List appeared first on QuTech.

Quantum Internet
By exploiting the power of quantum entanglement it is theoretically possible to build a quantum internet that cannot be eavesdropped on. However, the realization of such a quantum network is a real challenge: you have to be able to create entanglement reliably, ‘on demand’, and maintain it long enough to pass the entangled information to the next node. So far, this has been beyond the capabilities of quantum experiments.

Scientists at QuTech in Delft have now been the first to experimentally generate entanglement over a distance of two metres in a fraction of a second, ‘on demand’, and subsequently maintain this entanglement long enough to enable -in theory- further entanglement to a third node. ‘The challenge is now to be the first to create a network of multiple entangled nodes: the first version of a quantum internet’, professor Hanson states.

Higher performance
In 2015, Ronald Hanson’s research group already became world news: they were the first to generate long-lived quantum entanglement over a distance (1.3 kilometres), , allowing them to providefull experimental proof of quantum entanglement for the first time. This experiment is the basis of their current approach to developing a quantum internet: distant single electrons on diamond chips are entangled using photons as mediators.

However, so far this experiment has not had the necessary performance  to create a real quantum network. Hanson: ‘In 2015 we managed to establish a connection once an hour, while the connection only remained active for a fraction of a second. It was impossible to add a third node, let alone multiple nodes, to the network.’

Entanglement on demand
The scientists have now made multiple innovative improvements to  the experiment. First of all, they demonstrated a new entanglement method. This allows for the generation of entanglement forty times a second between electrons at a distance of two metres. Peter Humphreys, an author of the paper, emphasises: ‘This is a thousand times faster than with the old method.’ In combination with a smart way of protecting the quantum link from external noise, the experiment has now surpassed a crucial threshold: for the first time, entanglement can be created  faster than it is lost.

Through technical improvements, the experimental setup is now always ready for ‘entanglement-on-demand’. Hanson: ‘Just like in the current internet, we always want to be online, the system has to entangle on each request.’ The scientists have achieved this by adding smart quality checks. Humphreys: ‘These checks only take a fraction of the total experimental time, while allowing us to ensure that our system is ready for entanglement, without any manual action’.

Networks
The researchers already demonstrated last year that they were able to protect a quantum entangled link while a new connection was generated.  By combining this and their new results, they are ready to create quantum networks with more than two nodes.  The Delft scientists now plan to realize such a network between several quantum nodes. Hanson: ‘In 2020, we want to connect four cities in the Netherlands via quantum entanglement. This will be the very first quantum internet in the world.’

This work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) through a VICI grant and by the European Research Council through a Starting Grant and a Synergy Grant.

The press coverage is summarized here.

Note for editors:

Publication:
Deterministic delivery of remote entanglement on a quantum network
Peter C. Humphreys,1, 2 Norbert Kalb,1, 2 Jaco P. J. Morits,2 Raymond N. Schouten,2 Raymond F. L. Vermeulen,2 Daniel J. Twitchen,3 Matthew Markham,3 and Ronald Hanson2

1These authors contributed equally to this work.
2QuTech & Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, PO Box 5046, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
3Element Six Innovation, Fermi Avenue, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QE, U.K.

Contact details:
Prof. dr. ir. Ronald Hanson
QuTech, Delft University of Technology
Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, Netherlands
R.Hanson@tudelft.nl
+31 15 27 86133

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But how do a quantum computer and a quantum internet work? What scientific principles are behind it? What kind of software and protocols do we need for that? How can we operate a quantum computer and a quantum internet? And which disciplines of science and engineering are needed to develop a fully working system?

Enrol now in this course on EdX.org

This course will be divided into two parts. In the first part, you will get an insight into and an overview of the first layer of the quantum computer and the quantum internet: the qubits. In the second part of this course, which will be live early September 2018, we will continue and introduce the other elements needed to build a quantum computer and a quantum internet.

The post Join our new MOOC Building Blocks of a Quantum Computer appeared first on QuTech.

About the Quantum Vision Team
The vision team will focus on quantum communication and quantum computing related to quantum communication. A key topic is cryptology since quantum technologies pose treats to the security of current digital communication and enable new full security for future quantum communication. The team will provide an overview of questions, concerns and future images from different stakeholders of the impacts on society. It will also evaluate realism and desirability of possible future scenarios for these new technologies in the coming six months.

The post Quantum Vision Team researches social impact of quantum technology appeared first on QuTech.

On Tuesday 15 May 2018 we were honoured to welcome the Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier at QuTech. The president visited several research projects and laboratories on the campus of TU Delft.

See also: http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/EN/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/2018/180515-16-Visit-Netherlands.html;jsessionid=25488A324C7D7C4B1D07071E18B5E9C3.2_ci

 Pictures by Roy Borghouts

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Majorana

In 1937, Ettore Majorana predicted a new, fundamental particle that is later named after him: the Majorana particle. The particle has the property of being its own anti-particle. Researcher Hao Zhang: ‘this is very special, usually there is an opposite property in the antiparticle, such as charge: the antiparticle of the electron is the positron.’

Majorana quasiparticles appear in materials in extremely restricted conditions. When a nanowire made from a semiconductor is connected to a superconductive material, researchers see a so-called zero-bias peak in the case of certain electric and magnetic fields. This signal is the main characteristic of the presence of Majoranas.

See also this Majorana-timeline made my Bruno van Wayenburg.

Complete toolbox

In the first experiment of 2012, the zero-bias peak was noisy, and difficult to see. This made the Majorana appearance debatable. In the years that followed, researchers worked very hard on improving the theory, materials and the experimental fabrications. The past months multiple breakthroughs followed each other, completing the research trilogy. Transport in the required materials is improved in two steps: high-quality interfaces and superclean Majorana transport. Furthermore, the design of nano-hashtags allowed for future exchange of Majorana particles, the final step required for topological quantum computing.

Now the researchers combine all improvements in an experiment to show the quantized conductance of the zero-bias peak. This perfect quantization of the Majorana conductance fits perfectly with theories on the existence of the Majorana’s. Zhang: ‘it is a direct consequence of the particle-antiparticle property.’

Perfect quantum computer

This experiment closes a chapter in the quest for Majorana particles, and opens a new chapter to work towards quantum information processing based on their properties. Their unique physical characteristics make the Majorana particles much more stable than the majority of other qubits. Making and regulating these Majoranas on the way to creating this topological quantum computer is still challenging. The level of control and understanding that is reached now, allows for the exploration of Majorana quantum computing.

The researchers now aim to combine the previous breakthroughs in one experiment to realize a qubit based on four Majorana particles. ‘For that, we need to scale up to more complicated networks such as the nano-hashtags, ‘Hao Zhang explains, ‘and then we finally have a qubit that is protected by its own topology.’

This work was performed in close collaboration between QuTech, TU Delft, JQI(Maryland), Microsoft, TU Eindhoven and UC Santa Barbara.

Also see this beautiful explanation at quantumfrontiers.com

The post Majorana trilogy completed appeared first on QuTech.

‘The Quantum Internet and Quantum Computers: How Will They Change the World?’ In this MOOC Menno Veldhorst, Stephanie Wehner and Lieven Vandersypen tell you about the basic principles of the quantum computer and quantum internet, and about how these new technologies will change the world. Learn the principles and promises behind these developments and how they will impact our future. You can enroll now!

The post New MOOC QuTech Academy appeared first on QuTech.

Menno Veldhorst, Giordano Scappucci, Fabio Sebastiano, and Carmina Almudever
Photo credits: Guus Schoonewille

The post Quantum operations on a 1024-Qubit Processor appeared first on QuTech.