Quantum-based technologies are making headlines around the world, with researchers reporting teleportation experiments involving satellites, quantum computers on the eve of designing new drugs and quantum cryptography employed for keeping messages secret.

[attach id=708320 size="medium" align="right"]IBM Q quantum computer. Photo: Lars Plougmann/Flickr[/attach]

Quantum mechanics was born around 100 years ago. From the very beginning, it predicted bizarre outcomes, such as the celebrated Schrödinger’s cat that can be simultaneously dead and alive. A sceptical Einstein once commented sarcastically that “[entanglement] is spooky action at a distance”, referring to a quantum effect, whereby a measurement performed on one object would affect the properties of another one, no matter how far apart they might be. Scientists did not possess the experimental means to verify these quantum mechanics predictions. However, subsequent advances left little doubt about their validity.

Although famed for its abstract aspects that may bear little relation to real-life problems, quantum mechanics has given rise to countless technological applications, such as lasers, transistors and magnetic resonance imaging. Without these advances, our modern world of smartphones, laptops, laser surgery and so on would be impossible. The digital era we are living in is a product of the first quantum revolution. We are now witnessing the dawn of the second quantum revolution, based on our ability to manipulate single atoms and engineer devices exhibiting quantum properties in large scales. Companies such as IBM, Google and Microsoft are developing increasingly complex quantum computers and algorithms aimed at solving problems, which are currently impossible to solve even on the biggest ordinary supercomputer.

Quantum mechanics was born around 100 years ago

In the race to develop these quantum technologies, the EU is at the forefront. The Quantum Technology Flagship of the EU, launched in October 2018, is an ambitious 10-year, billion-euro programme for developing new quantum technologies with a focus on communication, simulation, computation, sensing and software. The quantum research group at the University aims to develop some of these technologies in Malta where Prof. André Xuereb is working to demonstrate unbreakable quantum-secured communication outside laboratories. Additional research includes how to connect quantum processors with wires made from a small number of atoms.

Identifying how atoms are exhibiting quantum effects may also help to reduce the energy consumption of these quantum processors. In a world that is turning quantum, the Maltese Islands may soon become quantum islands.

Tony J. G. Apollaro is a senior lecturer at the Department of Physics at the University of Malta. His research interests are quantum information, quantum thermodynamics and condensed matter physics, which distract him from his main interests.

Did you know?

• The first teleportation experiment, over a few tens of centimeters, dates back to 1997 and was achieved independently by two groups, one in Austria and one in Italy.

• The federal elections in Geneva, Switzerland, have been protected since 2007 by a quantum cryptography system commercialised by the Swiss Company ID Quantique.

• IBM makes its quantum computers available for general users via an online platform, the IBM Quantum Experience.

• The Maltese letter ħ is also the symbol of the reduced Planck constant, a fundamental quantity in quantum mechanics.

• The letter ħ relates the energy to the angular frequency of an electromagnetic wave.

• Patents related to quantum computations have increased by about 600 per cent in the last 10 years.

• Whereas an ordinary computer works with bits, each of which can take the value 0 or 1, a quantum computer operates with ‘qubits’ (quantum bit) that can be simutaneously 0 and 1.

Sound bites

• The optical fibers linking Malta to Sicily have been used in an international experiment to detect underwater earthquakes. The technology, based on interference effects on ultra-stable laser light sent across the fibers, allows for real-time earthquake detection and may even play a major role in tsunami alerts.

https://www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/news/features/2018/06/newlasertechnologytoobserveearthquakes/_nocache

• Fullerene, an organic molecule made of 60 carbon atoms, exhibits the peculiar quantum behaviour of both a particle and a wave. Currently, research efforts are ongoing to create a quantum superposition, i.e., a ‘Schrödinger’s cat’ state, of small living organisms, such as viruses and bacteria.

https://physicsworld.com/a/could-schrdingers-bacterium-be-placed-in-a-quantum-superposition/

• The first quantum-encrypted intercontinental videoconference was held between China and Austria for a total of 75 minutes via the Chinese satellite Micius. The same satellite is currently being used for quantum cryptography between multiple ground stations and for ground-to-satellite teleportation.

https://phys.org/news/2018-01-real-world-intercontinental-quantum-enabled-micius.html

For more soundbites listen to Radio Mocha on Radju Malta every Monday at 7pm and Thursday at 4pm on Radju Malta 2 https://www.fb.com/RadioMochaMalta/.

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