Russ Fein's onset of interest in quantum physics and quantum computing began in college. His introduction came through a friend, who was studying theoretical physics, and helped Fein understand these complex topics. Fein says, “I must have asked him 100 times please explain it to me again." He was not able to fully grasp the concepts, but he was enthralled. This interest would remain in the background for much of Fein’s professional career, but when the COVID-19 pandemic came, he got to work. “I read everything I could,” immersing himself in the topic, Fein reached his goal of being able to teach these quantum computing topics to others. He posted articles on social media platforms and became recognized in the top 10 list of LinkedIn’s Quantum Voices. 

This experience coupled with his investment background, led him to seek out opportunities in the Colorado Quantum field, where he discovered Vescent Photonics. In Vescent, Fein was able to find a “picks and shovels supplier” that gave him access to the many different modalities of quantum computing instead of betting on just one aspect. After being introduced to Vescent, Fein’s sentiment became “I've got to invest in this company.” Taking him full circle from his original introduction in college, as he is now a major player within the Colorado ecosystem of quantum computing, and is excited to see what the future of quantum computing holds.

Quantum computing is an extremely complex topic that was initially confined to theoretical study but is quickly becoming a real-world application. Quantum computing is a new form of computation that utilizes quantum physics, photonics, and atoms to perform intricate calculations in a fundamentally different way when compared to classical computers. Classical computers compute information using binary sets of zero and one, while quantum computers can have atoms in varying levels between zero and one for stronger computational reasoning.  Colorado is spearheading this innovation with emerging companies and universities joining together for a strong quantum future. This story will explore the growing quantum hub in Colorado, how innovators are pushing the boundaries of quantum computing, and what the future might hold for this groundbreaking technology.

Positives

Like any major technological advancement, quantum computing comes with its own set of potential positives and negatives. Quantum computing could have major benefits for society, and more specifically in the world of medicine. Doug Finke of the Quantum Computing Report explained these benefits. “It will really reduce the cost of drug discovery and have a major impact on the health system.” If development continues at this rate, that would be an incredible advancement and could be crucial for people everywhere. With cheaper drug discovery comes increased innovation, lower medication costs, and ultimately improved overall public health. Finke continued by saying, “The discovery of a new drug will save an order of magnitudes worth of expense and an order of magnitudes worth of time. So you may be able to come out with a drug in a couple of years.” Of course, that is barring clinical trials, but it will be much cheaper and quicker, nonetheless. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also beneficial to the development of fully realized quantum computers. Through this combination, both quantum computers and AI models and algorithms can continually improve each other by way of a feedback loop.

In this way, Russ Fein says, “I think that might be an early place where somebody’s AI model is 5% better because a piece of it {AI} is being run through quantum.” This feedback loop allows for quantum and AI to bounce off each other, improving with each applied to one another’s problems. From John Hime’s perspective, current AI models “kind of have to brute force their way through a lot of data.” Whereas with quantum computing and AI working in tandem, “it kind of gates this ability to leave your possibilities open, so to speak.”

Negatives

There are also potential negative aspects of a fully functioning quantum computer, and they mainly revolve around national security issues in regard to communications and encrypted information. The encryption we use currently relies on classical computers' difficulty in factoring very large numbers. On the quantum side, that is not the case, “as soon as a quantum computer gets to the point where it's able to be deployed, it could crack this encryption.” This is obviously very concerning in regard to national security interests, as bad actors could immediately target and break the encryption of some of our most closely held secrets, such as financial banking systems, telecommunications, and social security information. This has created a quantum race of sorts; as Scott Sternberger explains, “countries want to be there first because they view it as potentially a threat.”

Quantum computing's positive impact can be applied to more areas than just health care. Doug Finke dove deeper into all of the other areas it will be beneficial in. “You'd be able to do that and tremendously reduce the amount of natural gas that's used to create fertilizer, and fertilizer, of course, is extremely important for farming and all of human existence.” These computing technologies can have major effects on many aspects of society, but it does have its limitations. 

There are many outlandish expectations around quantum computing but Doug Finke takes a more realistic approach. “Quantum is not going to be a consumer-level technology. It’s going to be used by chemists and other people,” Doug Finke said.“You may be using quantum indirectly over the cloud on your cell phone, but you won't be using it to send tweets on TikTok or anything like that.” 

A unique conundrum has also popped up within the quantum computing ecosystem. As the bold expectations around quantum capabilities could be a detriment to research and funding opportunities. On the commercial side, players such as Elevate Quantum are “on one side an investor. If I go in there and you promised me the moon, I think I'm paying for the moon.”

Obviously, with start-ups, there is some ambiguity regarding when you will see results, but with quantum computing specifically, that ambiguity seems to have been replaced with the highest expectations possible. This can lead to issues, as the quote above shows, and the fact that “no one can sit here and honestly tell you where we're going to be with the technology in six months, two years, 10 years, you name it.” This means that the current sky-high expectations put on quantum computing are guaranteed to fall short unless we can recalibrate.

Through either looking at the whole larger picture of quantum computing and understanding that each incremental step is one step closer to the ultimate goal. On the research side, some are feeling the pressure of the massive expectations put onto quantum computing. With them viewing the sky-high expectations as a hindrance to their work, as it could potentially put research funds in jeopardy if the sky-high expectations are not met or exceeded. This has led to people both on the research and commercial side focusing on the realistic next steps, rather than shooting for the moon, simply because that is the expectation.

Right now, we are split between focusing on the big picture of what quantum computing can do and focusing on and appreciating each incremental step along the way, no matter how small.

Quantum computing represents the next big societal breakthrough that we will see in our lifetime, and Colorado is at the forefront of this innovation. The government grants, company initiatives, and academic side of quantum research give Colorado everything it needs to further the development of quantum computing to large-scale use throughout the world. The ease of access to things like communication between companies, Ph.D. recipients, and shared lab space accelerates the growth of quantum computing like nowhere else in the United States.

While there are still challenges like decoherence, interference, funding, algorithms, and physically building these computers, the effects of this innovation are too serious to ignore. Dr. Notermans describes these challenges similar to the innovation of combustion engines. You cannot get to a Formula 1 car without building a basic engine first. Once the first iterations are viable, more innovation will ensue. With Colorado’s leading power in the quantum field, more innovators and companies will follow along to build out Colorado to its full quantum potential. While the journey ahead is uncertain and hard to put into words, the efforts of researchers, scientists, students, and investors are redefining technology and what we perceive is possible with the use of quantum computers. 

Glossary:

Qubits: While regular computers work in bits, zero or one, quantum computers work with qubits, which can be in a state of zero, one, or some combination of both, like Schrodinger's Cat theory. Qubits are composed of the smallest atoms in our universe, called “quantum particles”. These can be photons, electrons, or neutrons to complete these computations. They are kept extremely cold in vacuum chambers to limit interference from outside sources and to complete computations in faster ways than regular computers. The more qubits you have in a system, the more they are entangled, which can lead to faster processing times and fewer errors, but it is a problem to get a large number of qubits in the same area for computing.

Entanglement: When 2 or more particles are linked and able to send/share information between each other over long distances. Allows these computers to manipulate small amounts of qubits but have it affect all those that are entangled to the ones being operated on. Think of it like your cell phone. Making a call, sending a text, a video, a picture across the world. Within an instant, each device is changed, and information is shared. But it's that on an enormous scale. 

 Superposition: This is a key aspect of qubits in quantum computing. Superposition is the description of a qubit when it is simultaneously in a state of zero, one, or some combination of both before it is measured. Think of this as a spinning coin; it shows both heads and tails, but it is undecided until it stops spinning. 

Decoherence: This term is one of the struggles in fully completing quantum computing actions. The decoherence is the volatility of the superposition and entanglement within a system. Decoherence can take the “quantum” out of quantum computing and revert the states of qubits back to a classical physics state, which limits the capabilities of being in multiple states at once. 

Noise: Another major challenge of quantum computing is interference or noise from outside sources, other qubits, and imperfect vacuum chambers. These interferences can disrupt the highly sensitive qubits, leading to a decay of quantum states, incorrect calculations, and harder-to-measure qubits.

Fully Realized Quantum Computer: This is the peak of our expectations for a quantum computer. Currently, these computers are preliminary test subjects that are attempting to become fully realized. A fully realized quantum computer has millions of qubits with low fault-tolerances that maintain reliability when conducting complex calculations.