Qubit Community Weekly Newsletter #1

Greetings, Qubit Community members!

We are excited to bring you first edition of our weekly newsletter, packed with updates, insights, and opportunities in the ever-evolving field of quantum technologies. Whether you're a seasoned expert or a curious newcomer, our aim is to keep you informed and engaged with cutting-edge developments, community events, and thought-provoking articles.

Stay connected, stay curious, and let's continue to push the boundaries of what's possible together.

Happy reading!

Qubit Community Insights:

1. The International Quantum Day Meetup is happening tomorrow!!! See you tomorrow at Microsoft Reactor, Tel Aviv. More details about the event can be found in the following link: https://qubitil.substack.com/p/coming-soon

2. Two comprehensive articles about quantum computing written by Idan Keynan were published in the blog this week. Highly recommended for beginners in the field of quantum computing:

   Part 1 – https://qubitil.substack.com/p/quantum-computing-explained

   Part 2 – https://qubitil.substack.com/p/quera-the-future-of-quantum-computing

3. Full Stack Observability in the Quantum Era – how to connect between quantum computing and IT benchmarks metrics? Read our latest article about full stack observability in the quantum era, written by Roy Ben Avraham: https://qubitil.substack.com/p/full-stack-observability-in-the-quantum

4. Qubit survey – help us to improve! We encourage you to answer Qubit community survey. Participating in the survey is simple and will only take a few minutes of your time. Survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/136zJyxokAMYeWGGal55MmzhGehyoJuDjExzcrZqBd_s/edit

Exclusive News from Quantum World:

1. UN Proclaims 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology – The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. This initiative underscores the pivotal role of quantum technologies in transforming diverse fields such as physics, chemistry, material science, and biology. The goal is to foster global collaborations, promote educational activities, and highlight quantum innovations' contributions to sustainable solutions for health, energy, and environmental challenges.

   For more details: https://thequantuminsider.com/2024/06/07/un-declares-2025-international-year-of-quantum-science-and-technology/

2. Airbus and BMW Announce Finalists for Quantum Computing Challenge – Airbus and BMW Group have joined forces to support the launch of the Airbus-BMW Group Quantum Computing Challenge (ABQCC) under the motto “The Quantum Mobility Quest”. The Group have revealed the 15 finalists for their Quantum Computing Challenge, aiming to leverage quantum technologies for industrial applications. The selected teams, including nine companies and six universities from around the world, will advance to Phase II to implement and demonstrate their solutions. This phase involves benchmarking their solutions using datasets from Airbus and BMW. Participants will have access to AWS's quantum computing service, Amazon Braket, ensuring fair competition based on innovation and merit.  

   For more details: https://thequantuminsider.com/2024/06/12/finalists-named-for-the-airbus-bmw-group-quantum-computing-challenge/

3. Quantinuum Accelerates Integration of Quantum Computing and AI with Quixer – Quantinuum has introduced Quixer, a state-of-the-art quantum transformer model, designed to merge quantum computing with artificial intelligence. Quixer utilizes quantum algorithmic primitives to achieve efficient quantum transformations tailored for language modeling tasks. This marks a significant milestone as Quixer successfully applied a quantum transformer model to a practical language modeling task using the Penn Treebank dataset. Despite challenges in scaling and comparing quantum and classical models, Quixer demonstrates the potential of quantum AI, promising future breakthroughs in data analysis and pattern recognition. Read the paper on Arxiv for more details: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2406.04305

   Quixer code is also accessible in GitHub: https://github.com/CQCL/Quixer/

4. Advancing Quantum Technology with Superconducting Quantum Circuits – Researchers from China and the U.S. have made significant progress in quantum communication using a superconducting quantum circuit with 36 tunable qubits. Their scalable protocol for transferring quantum states in a 2D network aims to enhance quantum computing by improving efficiency and reliability. The team achieved a maximum transfer fidelity of 0.902, despite challenges from thermal excitations. Their innovative approach could be crucial for connecting distributed quantum processors, pushing forward the capabilities of quantum technologies. Read Nature paper for more details: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48791-3

5. Prioritizing Quantum Cybersecurity: A Call to Action for the Next Administration – The national security think tank MITRE is urging the next U.S. administration to prioritize quantum cybersecurity. As quantum computers advance, they pose a threat to current encryption methods, potentially enabling hackers to decode secure data. MITRE emphasizes the need for transitioning to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards to protect sensitive information. The organization recommends assessing PQC readiness, creating a "cryptographic bill of materials," and leveraging private sector expertise to safeguard against future quantum threats.

   For more information read the MITRE report: https://www.mitre.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/PR-24-1733-Strengthening-US-Leadership-to-Safeguard-Our-Cyber-Defenses.pdf

6. Argonne National Laboratory's Innovative Full-Stack Quantum Network Approach – Argonne National Laboratory has introduced a full-stack approach to developing scalable quantum networks. This initiative integrates hardware, software, and networking protocols to enhance the reliability and efficiency of quantum communication systems. By addressing challenges across the entire stack, from quantum bits (qubits) to network architecture, Argonne aims to accelerate the practical implementation of quantum networks. This holistic strategy is expected to pave the way for more robust quantum technologies and foster advancements in secure communication.

   More information can be found in the Argonne National Laboratory's website: https://www.anl.gov/interqnet-a-heterogeneous-fullstack-approach-to-codesigning-scalable-quantum-networks