Code-breaking quantum algorithm run on a silicon chip

[bananas]

Code-breaking quantum algorithm run on a silicon chip

A quantum calculation able to crack one of the most common forms of data encryption has been performed on a silicon chip for the first time.

The study demonstrates that complex quantum circuits can be built relatively easily out of silicon and silica – a significant milestone on the road to full-blown quantum computing.

<snip>

The 26-millimetre-long chip was designed and built using standard fabrication processes by Jeremy O'Brien, Jonathan Matthews and Alberto Politi at the University of Bristol, UK. It can run Shor's algorithm in cut-down form – confirming that 3 and 5 multiply to form 15, which is the simplest possible demonstration.

Unlike the silicon chips inside conventional computers, the Bristol team's chip uses light rather than electricity. Light-transmitting silica on a silicon wafer guides photons with entangled quantum properties around, an approach first demonstrated by the same team last year.

<snip>


The new chip is 26 mm long (Image: Science, Jonathan Matthews/University of Bristol)

[wroberts189]

1. Amazing knr nt

[givemebackmycountry]

2. I'm wondering, and probably stupidly too...

As I was reading this, my assumption was that this was going to be credited to MIT, Cal-Berkley, or some other institution of advanced higher learning here in the United States.

Instead, I read University of Bristol, UK
And good for them too.
At least someone is pushing the envelope.

It's just a observation, and most likely a mis-guided one, but if we are the greatest country on the planet why ain't this us?
I guess since everything in this country has to make a profit, and has to do so every 90 days so the corporations can make their quarterly numbers, research in this country ain't what it used to be.

It occurs to me that the only thing we make anymore is bombs, bullets, and bibles.
And we freaking rule in that market.

I have also been thinking this... it may be my new sig line, and I really like the old one but...

ONE MORE REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION, AND WE'RE PRETTY MUCH DONE.

Four years (God forbid eight) of a Dick Cheney, Mitt, Jindal, Palin, Pawlenty, Cantor, Santorum, Jeb or any of these guys that can, and will, be told what to do (maybe not Cheney, he's got his own game plan) and it's over for us.

And call me crazy, but they stole two elections recently, and would have stolen the LAST one but our guy was TOO strong a player.
We may not have that kind of result the next time.

This is the kind of stuff that I think of when I let my mind wander.

DU posting and mind wandering do not mix.

[gtar100]

4. You're not alone in thinking this.

But we're never "done". It would just be a turn for the worse that may stretch out this fight against fascism and totalitarianism into a multi-generational fight. The current lot of American citizens seem to be too fat-and-happy to be motivated en masse. Historically it's always taken several generations of abject poverty and subjugation to motivate massive numbers of people to rise up against the elite. I'd hate to see it come to that as it means the lives of our children and grandchildren would suffer through something worse than it is now.

[The Revolution]

5. We're still in the game

Scientists in the US are also working in this field. For example, here's something from back in July:

Scientists at MIT have broken the ice in their attempt to construct atomic quantum memory. This quantum memory is capable of detecting a photon polarization (”polarization quantum bit”), producing an acknowledgment signal for successful storage of information and emitting a photon with the same polarization as absorbed, whenever a “Read” instruction is detected by the system.

Quantum photonics had earlier witnessed the tip of the iceberg with quantum processors and precise control of four photons on a silicon chip (quantum processor). So, taking quantum photonics to another level, quantum information can now be stored in this quantum memory, which was not possible earlier.

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/mit-scientists-develop-photonics-based-quantum-memory

[caraher]

3. It's good work but not an earth-shattering breakthrough

What they've done is put some of the required optics on a chip. The article's last paragraph reads,

But White points out that the technology used to generate individual photons to feed into the chip, and to detect them as they emerge, is not efficient, fast or compact enough yet. Although the new chip is only 26 mm long, it has to be surrounded by a whole table top of that equipment.

They've miniaturized the part where the photons interact, but the biggest bottlenecks lie elsewhere.