Quantum's not just about computing - a look at what else is going on
While the world waits for the first commercial quantum computer, may applications are already here says EY's Piers Clinton-Tarestad
To get the obligatory quip out of the way, quantum is seemingly everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It is now the daily fodder of mass circulation publications like Forbes, yet at the same time, in the form of quantum computing at least, it is accused of being a blind alley and a money pit, with nothing to show for the billions invested so far.
Far from being yet another mysterious quality of the subatomic world, this is a simply a characteristic of the hype cycle. At the top of the cycle, intense public interest fuels outlandish stories, which are then rebuffed by trenchant naysayers. See also cloud computing and AI.
Quantum has entered the public imagination as the next big tech thing; and who doesn't love spooky interaction at a distance and Schrödinger's paradoxical cat? However, the real picture is much broader and more prosaic.
Quantum computers are still largely confined to the lab, but many other applications of quantum physics that overlap with more traditional fields of computer science have been around for many years, including in computing components, lasers and integrated circuits. Other areas such as quantum cryptography, quantum sensing and simulations are also very much in the here and now and undergoing rapid development.
In other words, applications of quantum physics lie on a maturity spectrum, with the above-mentioned technologies at one end and general purpose quantum computing at the other. What's happening on the ground, says Piers Clinton-Tarestad, quantum computing leader at consultancy EY UKI, is a stitching together of different tools and techniques, old and new. For example, machine learning models are being augmented with quantum computing, and standard networking technology is being used to transmit quantum information.
The first demonstration of wire transmission using quantum key distribution happened way back in 2004, but since then distances spanned and stability of signal have improved hugely. Earlier this year, EY worked with BT and Toshiba to launch the first commercial quantum secure metropolitan network. Already capable of messaging over standard fibre optic links between EY's two London offices, the network is adding more destinations as time goes on. It could be a precursor to the much vaunted unhackable (at least in transmission) quantum internet.
"It's still got a long way to go from this basic quantum key distribution line to become a quantum internet, but it's no longer in the labs. It's out there in a small way in reality," said Clinton-Tarestad, who, with a 25-year background in assessing technology risk, has seen how ideas become experiments then products.
Quantum sensing
Another area that tends to get overlooked is quantum sensing: "Quantum sensing and communication both get a little lost along the way," said Clinton-Tarestad, adding that both are well ahead of quantum computing on the maturity curve.
Sensing work is still mostly experimental, but nevertheless applied to real-world problems. For example, telecoms companies are investigating how to use sensing to measure what's under the road in much more detail than is possible with radar.
Quantum sensors are already used in nuclear power plants to detect the incidence of certain isotopes in reactors, in medical imaging and GPS, and the field has a wide range of additional use cases, for example to detect smuggled radioactive materials.
"It's a much more granular way of detecting and measuring the world," Clinton-Tarestad explained. "You could detect a single gram of uranium coming through the port because it would change the gravity of the space quickly."
On the military side, applications include detecting submarines and being able to see around buildings, and in the automotive sector autonomous vehicles could definitely benefit from the speed and sensitivity of quantum sensors. In microelectronics, quantum sensing can detect the tiniest of currents, and at the other end of the scale NASA is looking at using quantum sensors to navigate the vastness of space.
There's a lot going on.
Quantum computing use cases
And just because commercial quantum computers have yet to arrive, there are already plenty of use cases that make use of its special capabilities.
While scientists at Honeywell, IBM and Google labour to increase the number and stability of qubits in their devices, some forms of quantum computing already have commercial applications. Quantum annealing, a limited form of quantum computing which has been commercially available since D-Wave launched its services in 2011, is beginning to find a wider audience. It can be used to solve specific optimisation problems over a finite search space faster than classical computers, with applications - although still nascent from a commercial point of view - in financial modelling, fraud detection, healthcare, materials simulations and security.
Elsewhere, quantum computing is already being used by energy firms like E.ON to optimise the smart grid.
It can also be used as a step in machine learning, where the unique sensitivity and parallel processing possibilities of quantum augment current techniques, Clinton-Tarestad explained.
"You can combine quantum computing with more traditional classical machine learning, where the classic machine learning will do 29 steps and there'll be one quantum step."
And cloud quantum computing services are already available on the major platforms, with anyone with a basic knowledge of Python able to try their hand.
Quantum computing's ability to crack the cryptography that protects our online lives and businesses has also been in the news. Clinton-Tarestad said EY's customers are slowly coming to understand that they need to look into post-quantum cryptography. But it's the transformative commercial potential of optimisation that's really exciting the boardrooms.
"They're much more interested around what could it mean for transformation because I think they expect, and perhaps rightly, there are lots of clever people who will be working on the security, working on the standards, working on the transition. But actually if you take three months to test and market one chemical at that time, and you've got new market entrants who are able in the future to use a quantum computer to digitally discover many on the cloud with no capital investment, well that's a very interesting proposition."
Quantum in the UK
The UK has been pretty influential in this field.
"There's been an exponential increase in experimentation over the last few years," said Clinton-Tarested. "Britain has got a lot of it right in terms of what's gone previously in terms of the national quantum programme. We've got a strong academic interest; we have a large number of spinouts from universities who are making significant progress in the field; and then we also collaborate well with others."
This collaboration includes an unofficial agreement to share findings with the US, although an unknown effect going forward is the effect of Brexit and how it might limit collaboration with European scientists, where the picture is less rosy.
The UK is also opening a National Quantum Computing Centre in Harwell, Oxfordshire, next year, as part of a 10-year, £10 billion quantum plan, and a bill on the UK's quantum strategy is due to be put before parliament soon. (Although with the current chaotic state of the government, who knows when that will happen?)
In the meantime, organisations would do well to work on quantum readiness, keep an eye on developments in this fast-moving space, and start thinking about skills.
Asked in a recent EY survey [pdf] about how their organisations should prepare, UK executives said that developing skills was their number one priority. This was followed by ensuring senior management is aware of the state of development and business potential of quantum computing, and maintaining technical awareness of developments in the technology.
For the UK to be successful, a focus on talent is essential, agrees Clinton-Tarestad. Rather than sitting on their hands and waiting for it to mature, organisations should be creating teams and playing with the nascent tech in its many varieties.
"Quantum isn't a spectator sport. Getting involved, thinking about how are you going to do experiments and learning about it on the way is very important."