The University of Massachusetts Amherst is leading the core effort to design architectures and protocols for quantum networking for the National Science Foundation’s Center for Quantum Networks.
Under the leadership of Don Towsley, a Distinguished Professor at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS), the team are responsible for designing the infrastructure to support future city-scale quantum networks, an effort overseen by the Center for Quantum Networks.
The project is back by $26m in funding and is a five-year, renewable effort led by the University of Arizona, one of the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Centers.
Opportunities for quantum networking
Quantum computing differs fundamentally from the bit-based computing we all do every day. A bit is typically expressed as a 0 or a 1 and represents an electrical current that is off or on.
Bits are the basis for all the software, websites and emails that make up our electronic world. Even the simplest digital artefacts are composed of thousands of them.
By contrast, quantum computing relies on quantum bits or qubits, which are like regular bits except that they represent particles in a quantum state. Matter in a quantum state behaves very differently, so qubits aren’t relegated to being only 0 or 1, on or off.
That difference in their behaviour opens up a range of possibilities for quantum networking. However, according to Stefan Krastanov, assistant professor of information and computer sciences at UMass Amherst and one of the researchers helping to design the quantum network, they are not magical.
He said: “For many computing problems, quantum computers are no more powerful than conventional ones.
“However, for a growing family of important problems like drug discovery, cryptography and scientific simulations, only quantum algorithms have a chance of providing solutions.”
The project could be a major step forward for digital security measures
One of the strange aspects of the quantum state is that matter can be ‘entangled’.
Entangling quantum computers over a quantum internet could provide unparalleled digital security –one of the main applications of the Center for Quantum Networks’ research – and vastly increase the computing power of today’s most powerful machines.
But for this to happen, a secure quantum network must exist that can link quantum computers and transmit entangled qubits.
Towsley explained: “The problem is that quantum information is incredibly fragile and very sensitive to environmental noise, such as heat.
“This requires the careful design of a network architecture, algorithms and protocols to protect against this noise.”
Towsley and his UMass colleagues, including Krastanov and Filip Rozpedek, assistant professor of information and computer science, as well as Taqi Raza, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, are working out how to send qubits without the risk of their loss or decay in a secure way.
“Security cuts across all the various specialities that must contribute to a successful quantum network. We are working to embed security principles in quantum networks from the start,” Raza stated.
Further research to advance quantum technology
Thanks to a seed fund created by anonymous donors, including a gift of $5m, Towsley is leading the creation of a UMass Amherst Center of Excellence to support research in quantum information systems that will work to develop a quantum internet and to provide network security to connect quantum computers.
“Our role as a core institution in the NSF Center for Quantum Networks is part of a broader, growing interdisciplinary initiative in quantum networking systems here at UMass, involving faculty and researchers in CICS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics in the College of Natural Sciences,” concluded Sanjay Raman, Dean of the College of Engineering.
