The competition between the U.S. and China over development of quantum technology has implications...
In three preprint papers posted on arXiv.org last month, physicists at the University of Science and Technology of China reported critical advances in both quantum communication and quantum computing.
The geopolitical stakes of quantum technology are high: full-fledged quantum networks could provide unhackable channels of communication, and a powerful quantum computer could theoretically break much of the encryption currently used to secure e-mails and Internet transactions.
After China's demonstration of the Micius satellite in 2017, American politicians responded by pushing hundreds of millions of dollars into quantum information science via the National Quantum Initiative.
Zuoyue Wang, a science historian at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, notes that China and the U.S. are intimately intertwined in many areas-science among them-that could prevent a hostile new competition in the quantum realm.
Forty years ago physicist Richard Feynman made a straightforward proposition: Classical computers trying to simulate a fundamentally quantum reality might be outdone by a computer that, like reality, is itself quantum.
Why can rudimentary quantum computers beat classical supercomputers at specific tasks? The common refrain goes something like this: Instead of classical bits that are 0 or 1, a quantum computer uses qubits, whose state is somewhere in between 0 and 1 prior to measurement-a so-called quantum superposition.
Despite the difficulties of working with photonic quantum computers, USTC researchers have good incentive to master the platform because photons are the medium of China's emerging quantum network.
Is China ahead of the U.S. in quantum information technology? The answer depends on how you measure it.
China has more total patents across the full spectrum of quantum technology, but U.S. companies have a dramatic lead in quantum computing patents.
Of course, China has a more sophisticated quantum network and now claims the top two quantum computers.