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Update I

This update will present the main developments in the quantum computing field in the first quarter of 2021 regarding quantum communication, breakthroughs, technical developments, and investments.

The highlight of this update is the deep dive into quantum sensing technology, which gives an overview of the players involved and the business applications.

One of the most noticeable things when it comes to quantum computing is the fast-paced development and the rapidity with which significant changes happen in terms of technology, applications, and investments. Governments increase their funding for quantum computing, new countries enter the market, technological breakthroughs take place, companies discover new applications, new public-private partnerships are developed, and increasingly more businesses choose to test this technology or enter the quantum landscape.

Experts and scientists are not yet sure when this technology will be fully developed and adopted at a larger scale, but the efforts are being scaled up, and the highly dynamic nature of this field is not expected to change in the next couple of years.

1.1

Update to Chapter 2

Update to Chapter 2

Quantum technology spans several different areas: quantum computing, quantum communication and networking, quantum sensing, and quantum simulators. This update will dive deeper into the quantum sensing field, briefly presenting the technology and focusing primarily on the market opportunities, the main public and private players, and the investor landscape.

1.1.1

Update to subchapter 2.2. – Quantum sensing and metrology

This section provides an overview of the quantum sensing industry. It covers some fundamental aspects related to sensing technology, envisioned applications, companies in this field, the leading investors, and expert attitudes towards the potential of this industry.

"Imagine a world where you can find out exactly what lies under your feet, get advanced warning of volcanic eruptions, look around corners or into rooms, and detect initial signs of multiple sclerosis. Welcome to quantum sensing, a technology that could transform our world."
Tim Bowler, Business Reporter BBC News1

As with any emerging technology, public attitudes towards quantum sensing fluctuate between reserved expectations and spiraling hype. Governments and public institutions are setting aside funds to research this technology, while scientists and experts in this niche are establishing companies and startups that aim to provide real-life, commercial solutions. Even though numerous applications have been proposed, currently there are only a few reliable demonstrations and actual products on the market.

Quantum sensing – function, instruments, and industry applications

Market opportunities

Civil engineering and earth monitoring

Quantum sensors could be employed in the field of civil engineering for underground surveys to identify dangerous structures, or for locating underwater piles or cables. Moreover, this technology could help monitor volcanic and earthquake hazards, test water resources, and identify oil and gas deposits or leakages.

"Circuits today are measured on a nanometer scale. For the industry, it's difficult to understand why sometimes systems don't work. Quantum sensors can measure the flow of electricity at this scale and help understand what causes short circuits. For manufacturers, failure analysis is a very important field."2
Patrick Maletinsky, professor of experimental physics at the University of Basel and Chief Scientific Officer of Qnami
  • The French company Muquans already develops quantum gravimeters – devices able to identify variations in density below the ground by recording time and space gravitational fluctuations. The advantage compared to traditional devices, besides increased accuracy, is that they require little or no maintenance and can run continuously.
  • M Squared, a Scottish company, has developed a quantum gravimeter that is significantly more sensitive than traditional instruments. Several units have already been deployed on Mount Etna to monitor magma activity, and its producers hope to improve the sensors further in terms of sensitivity and production costs. Other applications could be in the area of geodesy, archeology, surveying, mineral prospecting, and evaluation of underground structures.
  • The Quantum Enhanced Imaging Hub within the University of Glasgow is working to develop a digital camera that can capture photons 10'000 times faster than traditional devices, as well as cameras that are capable of peeking around corners or providing clear images even through smoke.
  • QLM, a spin-off from the University of Bristol, is already commercializing a quantum-based camera system that visualizes and quantifies greenhouse emissions, thus helping to facilitate the net-zero goals of various industries.

Atomic clocks (currently used as the world's standard for precision measurements, time distribution services, television broadcasts, and satellite navigation systems): Since atomic clocks are vulnerable to threats such as jamming, space weather, and malicious attacks, quantum sensors could provide more robustness and precision. Moreover, atomic clocks are also used in holographic technology and complex laser systems.

  • QSNET (a network of quantum sensors across the UK) is building a national network of advanced atomic, molecular, and highly charged ion clocks. Due to its sensitivity, it is expected that this array will serve to explore the universe and dark matter.3

Transportation

Quantum-based technologies such as atom interferometers, quantum accelerometers and gyroscopes, quantum magnetometers based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, and others could be employed to improve satellite navigation systems for air, rail, road, and maritime traffic.

The advantages of quantum sensor technologies are that these can be integrated with any transportation vehicles (e.g., cars, drones, etc.) and will remain operational even when GPS systems are intentionally jammed, or if the satellite connection is not reliable enough. The technology might also prove relevant in the advent of autonomous cars.

  • The German technology company Bosch is researching quantum magnetometers based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, hoping to use these sensors to monitor charging and prevent excess currents in car batteries. However, the research is still in the incipient phase, and the company doesn't plan to market the product in the next 5-10 years.4
  • Scientists at Imperial College London and M Squared (a UK-based company) have developed the first commercially viable quantum accelerometer made in the UK. The device is intended to be used for satellite-free navigation. However, its size still needs to be reduced, and additional components developed.

Military and Defense

Besides the devices based on quantum sensors that could be used for surveillance and monitoring, the defense field might benefit from the sensitivity and accuracy of quantum radars. These could help with identifying undetectable objects such as stealth aircraft while keeping the radar operations hidden.

Moreover, quantum radars could also be part of distributed radar systems that allow for greater coverage and real-time data inflow in busy and congested environments.5

  • Thales (a French multinational company that develops electrical systems for a myriad of industries) and Lockheed Martin (a US defense company) are researching applications of quantum sensors in the military and civilian fields. However, the companies are not yet at the point of commercializing the innovative navigation instruments that they have developed. Despite very promising results, there are still hurdles that need to be overcome before the technology can be fully deployed in practical applications.
  • Besides being employed to monitor dosages required for cancer treatments, the University of Waterloo's quantum sensors could also be used to significantly improve high-speed imaging from space and provide long-range, high-resolution 3D images.
  • The Israeli defense technology company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems also employs quantum technologies to improve its sensors on the battlefield and identify alternative solutions for areas without GPS coverage.
  • Researchers at Buffalo University are exploring potential uses of quantum sensors for chemical detection. This could potentially lead to the development of handheld devices capable of detecting trace chemicals (e.g., illicit drugs).

Healthcare – quantum-enhanced imaging

The current generation of MRI machines have limited sensitivity and resolution. Quantum sensors might provide the possibility to obtain the image of a single cell or DNA strand, leading to faster and more accurate diagnoses. Moreover, current MRI devices are very large and require the patient to stay still during the scan. Quantum sensors are expected to be able to create images of patient's’ brains while they are moving.6

  • The University of Waterloo is conducting extensive research on quantum sensors for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. With current devices, tumors are visible only when they surpass a specific size. With quantum technology, it might be possible to detect dangerous cell growths before they start to cluster and form the tumor. Moreover, a device based on quantum sensors could also be used to precisely calibrate the dose of cancer treatment, and to ensure patients receive the right amount of medicine that kills only the cancerous cells and not the healthy ones.
Check out this video produced by Pindex Video Production in collaboration with UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, which describes in detail how quantum sensors allow us to see brain activity in far greater detail than ever before. (Source: YouTube)
  • Cerca Magnetics Limited (Cerca), a spin-off company based on the collaboration between the University of Nottingham and Magnetic Shields Limited (MSL), aims to develop the world's most advanced functional brain scanner based on quantum sensors. The combination of novel magnetic shielding and quantum technology promises to eliminate restrictions that currently limit the functionality of today's scanners' by making them fully wearable while preserving their sensitivity and accuracy.

Major research centers and leading universities

The UK seems to have a powerful presence in the field of quantum sensing, with several universities researching this topic and with strong partnerships between educational institutions and commercial companies.

The Gravity Pioneer Project is an example of such a consortium, bringing together British universities and engineering companies to build and test a new quantum-based gravity instrument that will detect and monitor objects beneath the ground with much better accuracy than current devices.7

The Quantum Technology Hub for Sensors and Metrology, led by the University of Birmingham (UK), is one of four Hubs within the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme. The center collaborates with over 70 industry partners and manages over 100 quantum sensing projects to explore potential applications of quantum sensors in civil engineering and medical scanning.

In Germany, the Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology IQST brings together Ulm University, the University of Stuttgart, and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Stuttgart) to advance the research in the quantum sensing field. With applications in navigation and medicine, the multiple projects are supported with considerable funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung – BMBF) and the European Union. IQST is part of the Quantum Alliance, a consortium of German Clusters of Excellence and research centers working in quantum science and technology.

With a strong research team and multiple publications dating back to 2006, the Quantum Sensing Lab within the University of Basel, Switzerland, develops highly sensitive sensors for measuring magnetic and electric fields. Part of the Basel Center for Quantum Computation and Quantum Coherence (Basel QC2), the University of Basel works closely with the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI). Together with ETH Zurich and several other universities, it leads the National Centre of Competence in Research - Quantum Science and Technology. Most of its funding comes from the Swiss National Science Foundation and European programs.

Investment landscape

Public and private investment in quantum technologies is on a rising trajectory, driven by the novelty of the field and its potential applications and promises. However, most public funds are directed towards quantum technologies in general and are not consistently differentiated based on specific areas and applications (e.g., computing, communication, hardware development, sensors, refrigerators, qubit technology, etc.). Most of the time, these funds are directed to universities, non-profit research centers, or public-private partnerships. For a general overview of the public investments in the quantum field, please refer to Chapter 6 of the report.

On a company level, the research and development process is financed either from internal resources (within the more established, mature companies), by business incubators and accelerators (e.g., Creative Destruction Lab), or directly through investments by venture capital firms, business angels, or private equity firms.

Most notably, Quantonation, founded by Christophe Jurczak, is one of the first venture capital funds in Europe dedicated to quantum technologies.

Main investors in quantum sensing companies (Data source: CrunchBase)

Overview of companies and regional development

Click here to see a list of companies developing quantum sensors for different industries

The quantum sensing market is relatively concentrated, with several established players dominating the industry. Unlike the quantum computing field, where the number of startups has increased significantly in the last years, the first quantum sensing applications were developed within old, established electronics and manufacturing companies that decided to expand their product portfolio and try to develop innovative technologies.

However, once the technology started to show promise, startups began to enter the field further advancing the research and developing quantum sensing technologies for commercial applications.

Founding year of companies researching or developing quantum sensing products

Patrick Maletinsky, principal investigator of the Quantum Sensing Lab within the University of Basel and Chief Scientific Officer of Qnami, a startup that manufactures diamond quantum sensors, believes that Europe is well positioned in this sector: "Today, there is very strong concentrated know-how on our continent: in France, Germany, and Switzerland, and also in Belgium and the UK. With the quantum flagship program, the European Union is going to invest €1 billion over ten years, providing strong support for research activities. And we have the industrial players like Bosch and Thales that are very active as well. Considering all this, I'd say that Europe has a leading position in quantum sensor technology."8

An analysis on CrunchBase of the leading companies developing quantum sensors also reveals a strong presence of European companies, followed by US. Other countries and regions such as Canada, Australia, and Asia are lagging far behind in the race regarding research and development in this field. However, these could represent potential marketplaces for the producers in more advanced regions.

Regional distribution of companies in the quantum sensing sector

Expert views

As with any emerging technology, expert opinions in the field are highly diverse and occasionally contradictory. Kai Bongs, a prominent physicist at Birmingham University, UK, believes that gravity-measuring quantum sensors in particular "will become more widespread quite quickly," with a potential market of perhaps US$1 billion a year.9

Professor Kai Bong, Director of UK Quantum Technology Hub for Sensors and Metrology, speaks about the potential of quantum sensors. Credit: University of Birmingham. (Source: YouTube)

On the other hand, Franck Pereira Dos Santos of the SYRTE Metrology Laboratory in Paris believes that, even though quantum sensing technology has benefited from growing investments throughout the last years, the results are not convincing, and the claims made by some sensor producers are not anchored in reality.10

Ronald Walsworth, Founding Director of the Quantum Technology Center within the University of Maryland and co-founder of several companies in the quantum field, warns of the general tendency in quantum research to see this technology as a hammer and transforming all the problems into nails to hit. A more realistic approach, anchored in real industry needs, would benefit both scientists and potential users.

Nevertheless, quantum sensors are expected to penetrate the medical and defense markets within the next three to five years and bring a significant competitive advantage for the companies that incorporate this technology in their strategy.11

Even though quantum sensors show a lot of promise, their implementation must still overcome some significant issues. Since they rely on technologies such as vacuum chambers and lasers, which are very large, complex, and expensive, mass reduction and driving down production costs are some of the major points scientists will have to focus on a shorter term.

The transition from laboratory setups to reliable industrial equipment requires that quantum sensors become much smaller, more efficient, compact, robust, and reliable. The first steps in this direction have already been taken.

1.1.2

Update to subchapter 2.3. – Quantum communication

In terms of quantum communication, China has once again proven its leadership role by announcing, in January 2021, the launch of the world's first integrated quantum communication network.12

This is one of the most significant achievements of the Asian scientists, who have already managed to prove entanglement in space, launched the first quantum satellite in 2016 (Mozi/Micius), and have built a quantum network on land between Beijing and Shanghai.

Relying on over 700 optical fibers on the ground and two ground-to-satellite links, this quantum network allows for coverage across a distance of 4'600 km.

The main advantage of building and using such a network is that it is considered unhackable. Unlike traditional encryption (which is threatened by the rise of quantum computers), quantum communication is deemed fully secure due to its specific quantum key distribution (QKD), which immediately notifies the parties in the case of any eavesdropping.

Other existing QKD technologies only work across distances of several hundred kilometers, and are still fighting channel loss problems.

1.2

Update to chapter 3

Update to chapter 3

Since digitalization and technology development are on every government's agenda, substantial funds are being directed towards quantum technologies in general and quantum computing in particular. Therefore, the pace of development in this field is relatively rapid, with numerous breakthroughs and discoveries taking place on a regular basis. Another reason for this accelerated development is the growing involvement of businesses from different industries, who are eager to experiment with the technology and be among the first to benefit from its potential.

This section presents China's massive leap in matching Google's quantum supremacy and a new proposed method of quantifying current and future generations of quantum computers' performance.

1.2.1

Update to subchapter 3.6. - China achieves quantum supremacy with a different type of technology

Even though Google's 2019 claim of having achieved quantum supremacy has been challenged by IBM, it is universally accepted that this milestone has already been reached. However, since various companies and governments are building quantum computers and are experimenting with different architectures and qubit technologies, the results can vary tremendously between regions.

China has been considered the leader of quantum research for some time. Therefore, it wasn't too surprising when in December 2020, a group of scientists from the University of Science and Technology (USTC) of China declared that they had achieved quantum supremacy.13

To reach this milestone, the Chinese team led by Jianwei Pan (considered the "Father of Quantum" in the Chinese community) has used a 50-photon Gaussian boson sampling quantum computer. This device was able to generate in just three minutes a result that would take Sunway TaihuLight (China's most powerful supercomputer) 2.5 billion years to produce.

Different technologies

Despite following similar quantum principles, the boson sampling quantum computers differs significantly from its counterpart – Google's Sycamore – which achieved quantum supremacy in 2019. USTC's quantum device uses a collection of photon detectors, prisms, lasers, and mirrors to generate what the scientists call "single-photon modes" (which would be the equivalent of qubits in the other quantum computers). These photon systems can map complex statistical distributions.

Problems

As with Google's quantum computer and other similar devices already on the market, the Gaussian boson sampling quantum computer is just a first step in the quest for quantum advantage; it has not yet been established whether this type of technology can be leveraged to solve real-world problems that traditional computers cannot tackle in a reasonable amount of time, which limits the market for these devices considerably.

Moreover, this technology is not yet fully programable and might lack the flexibility offered by the gate-based quantum computers. There are no established ways of converting various algorithms into boson sampling problems. The lack of a software programming environment for this technology might also slow down its adoption and diminish the interest among scientists in exploring its potential applications. This has prompted experts such as Scott Aaronson14 to state that this technology will not be able to simulate universal classical computing and might not have critical practical applications.

Even though some might consider Boson Sampling a dead end,15 it is acknowledged that USTC's results represent the first demonstration of quantum supremacy via photonics and might lead the way to new developments in physics and maybe unexpected practical applications.

1.2.2

Update to subchapter 3.5. - Benchmarking

After IBM introduced the Quantum Volume metric in 2019, several companies adopted it to allow for a better comparison between the performances of different quantum computers and provide a better overview of the devices' current capabilities.

However, due to the differences in technologies and architectures, quantum volume proved unsuitable when many qubits were achieved.

Therefore, in December 2020, IonQ, a US-based company that builds quantum computers, adopted a new metric key called Algorithmic Qubits (AQ), representing the number of effectively perfect qubits used in a quantum program.

IonQ also links AQ with Quantum Volume, providing access to reconversion formulas and an online calculator that allows users to input the main characteristics of their quantum devices (e.g., number of qubits, gate fidelities, etc.) and retrieve the AQ score corresponding to these parameters.16

1.3

Update to Chapter 4 - Exponential developments

Update to Chapter 4 - Exponential developments

Given the considerable interest in the field of quantum computing, the constant investment of funds, technological resources, and brainpower, significant advances can be observed regularly.

The beginning of 2021 brought two major breakthroughs:

A new cooling device developed by the University of Sydney in collaboration with Microsoft, which allows for better control of qubits.

This device operates at temperatures 40 times colder than deep space and uses a single chip to generate signals that control thousands of qubits.17

Scientists consider the difficulty of controlling many qubits and the complexity of the hardware architecture to be the primary reasons why quantum computers have not been scaled up yet. This device promises to help with the scaling up of current quantum machines and allow for a much larger number of qubits to be used in the computational process.

A new quantum architecture that allows qubits to intrinsically protect themselves from noise.18

Since quantum states are easily perturbed by various factors such as variations in temperature, stray atoms, or vibrations, these have strong effects on the accuracy of computations. In 2001, scientists at RWTH Aachen University in Germany proposed a particular type of superconducting circuit implementation (the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) code) that would intrinsically protect the hardware from noise. However, the strategy was not implemented because it required a vast magnetic field.

The new circuit architecture announced in 2021 manages to solve this problem by creating a synthetic magnetic field, leading to "intrinsically error-protected, superconducting circuit qubits." This is considered to be a significant- stepping stone towards the development of fault-tolerant quantum computers.

1.4

References

1. Tim Bowler, “How Quantum Sensing Is Changing the Way We See the World,” BBC News, March 8, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47294704.

2. Eugen Stamm, “Quantum Sensors: The Revolution You’ve Never Heard Of,” Investiere, June 25, 2019, https://www.investiere.ch/blog/interview-qnami-patrick-maletinsky/.

3. UK Quantum Technology Hub, “Exploring the Unanswered Questions of Our Universe with Quantum Technologies,” Quantum Sensors (blog), January 13, 2021, https://www.quantumsensors.org/news/2021/01/13/exploring-the-unanswered-questions-of-our-universe-with-quantum-technologies.

4. Edwin Cartlidge, “Quantum Sensors: A Revolution in the Offing?,” Optics & Photonics News, September 1, 2019, https://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume_30/september_2019/features/quantum_sensors_a_revolution_in_the_offing/.

5. UK Quantum Technology Hub, “Transforming Detection with Quantum-Enabled Radar,” Quantum Sensors, December 14, 2020, https://www.quantumsensors.org/news/2020/12/14/transforming-detection-with-quantum-radar.

6. UK Quantum Technology Hub, “New Spin-out Partnership Signals Quantum Leap for Brain Imaging,” Quantum Sensors, December 7, 2020, https://www.quantumsensors.org/news/2020/12/07/new-spin-out-partnership-signals-quantum-leap-for-brain-imaging.

7. “Gravity Pioneer: Industry Leaders Enter Partnership to Develop New Industry of Gravity Sensors,” University of Birmingham, https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/physics/news/2018/quantum-gravity-pioneer-project.aspx.

8. Stamm, “Quantum Sensors: The Revolution You’ve Never Heard Of,” June 25, 2019.

9. Cartlidge, “Quantum Sensors,” September 1, 2019.

10. Cartlidge.

11. Richard Claridge,“Quantum Sensing: A New Frontier for Revolutionary Technology,” ComputerWeekly.com, December 17, 2019, https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Quantum-sensing-a-new-frontier-for-revolutionary-technology.

12. University of Science and Technology of China, “The World’s First Integrated Quantum Communication Network,” January 7, 2021, https://en.ustc.edu.cn/info/1007/3182.htm.

13. Han-Sen Zhong et al., “Quantum Computational Advantage Using Photons,” Science 370, no. 6523 (December 18, 2020): 1460–63, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abe8770.

14. Scott Aaronson, “Quantum Supremacy, now with BosonSampling,” Shtetl-Optimized (blog), December 3, 2020, https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=5122.

15. Aaronson, "Quantum Supremacy, now with BosonSampling ".

16. Peter Chapman, “Scaling IonQ's Quantum Computers: The Roadmap,” IONQ, December 9, 2020, https://ionq.com/posts/december-09-2020-scaling-quantum-computer-roadmap

17. Sebastian J. Pauka et al., “A Cryogenic CMOS Chip for Generating Control Signals for Multiple Qubits,” Nature Electronics 4, no. 1 (January 2021): 64–70, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00528-y.

18. Anja Metelmann, “A Superconducting Qubit That Protects Itself,” Physics 14 (February 17, 2021), https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/25.