Insights

Quantum computing promises to solve problems that stump even the fastest classical supercomputers. At the heart of this promise is a mind-bending phenomenon: quantum superposition. In simple terms, superposition allows quantum bits - or qubits - to occupy multiple states at the same time, unlike ordinary bits which are firmly either 0 or 1. This concept sounds like science fiction, but it’s a well-established principle of quantum physics, illustrated by famous thought experiments and real-world demonstrations. In this article, we’ll take a journey through what superposition really means, how it contrasts with classical binary logic, and why it gives quantum computers their incredible power. Along the way, we’ll see how superposition enables phenomena like quantum parallelism and interference that make ...

Quantum interference remains the cornerstone of quantum computing’s promise. It’s the feature that distinguishes quantum computation from just a random quantum jumble. A quantum computer is not powerful simply because it can have many states at once – if that were all, measuring would give a random one and it wouldn’t be useful. It’s powerful because those many states can interfere in a orchestrated way to direct the computation toward the answer we seek. In a sense, programming a quantum computer is an exercise in taming waves. It’s about building an interference pattern that computes for you. We begin with all possibilities spread out as waves (quantum parallelism), then we prune and guide those waves with phase kicks and mixing ...

In the summer of 1956, a small gathering of researchers and scientists at Dartmouth College, a small yet prestigious Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire, ignited a spark that would forever change the course of human history. This historic event, known as the Dartmouth Workshop, is widely regarded as the birthplace of artificial intelligence (AI) and marked the inception of a new field of study that has since started revolutionizing countless aspects of our lives ...

Quantum computing has emerged as a new frontier of great-power competition in the 21st century​. Nations around the world view advanced quantum technologies as strategic assets - keys to future economic prowess, military strength, and technological sovereignty. Governments have already poured over $40 billion into quantum research and development globally​, launching national initiatives and international collaborations to secure a lead in this critical domain ...

The landscape of quantum computing and quantum networks is an exciting frontier where physics and cybersecurity intersect. We’re witnessing the early days of this quantum revolution. As quantum hardware scales and quantum protocols move from labs to real-world deployment, security experts will need to collaborate with physicists like never before. By mastering concepts like Heisenberg’s uncertainty, Bell’s theorem, and the no-cloning rule, cybersecurity professionals equip themselves to navigate this new terrain ...

A qubit is the quantum analog of a classical bit – it’s the basic unit of quantum information. However, unlike a classical bit that can only be 0 or 1 at any given time, a qubit can exist in a combination of both 0 and 1 states simultaneously. This property is called superposition ...

Bell states are a set of four specific quantum states of two qubits (quantum bits) that are entangled. In simple terms, an entangled pair of qubits behaves as one system, no matter how far apart they are. Bell states are the simplest and most extreme examples of this phenomenon​. They are fundamental to quantum mechanics because they exhibit correlations between particles that have no classical equivalent – a showcase of the “spooky” interconnectedness allowed by quantum physics ...

As a non-executive director (NED) who often represents cybersecurity and emerging technology interests on boards, I’ve learned that even without being a deep technical expert, I must challenge management and ensure our company’s security posture is sound. In today’s high-risk digital environment, boards can no longer treat cybersecurity as "someone else’s problem." Directors cannot abdicate or simply delegate oversight of cybersecurity - we must instead become knowledgeable champions who prioritize cyber resilience and demonstrate commitment from the top ...

Kuperberg’s algorithm is an impressive quantum algorithmic achievement that expands the boundary of what quantum computers might do beyond the original realm of Shor’s algorithm. It demonstrates that even some non-trivial group problems (like the dihedral hidden subgroup problem) are easier for quantum computers than for classical ones, albeit not easy in an absolute sense. In the context of cryptography, Kuperberg’s result serves as a caution: it tells designers to avoid building cryptosystems on algebraic problems that secretly reduce to hidden shift instances. Fortunately, lattice-based cryptography - and ML-KEM (Kyber) in particular - stands on much firmer ground. ML-KEM’s security is founded on LWE and lattice problems that have so far resisted all quantum algorithmic attacks except possibly modest subexponential ...

Quantum computing stands at the intersection of immense promise and intense hype. As someone who had led cybersecurity teams (including serving as an interim CISO for Fortune 500 companies) and was now investing in a quantum computing startup, I found myself navigating two contrasting narratives. On one hand, I am bullish on the future of quantum technology - convinced that within 15-20 years we’d see commercially viable quantum computers solving real problems. That's why I am building Boston Photonics. On the other hand, I had grown skeptical of the doomsday rhetoric vendors were using around the "quantum threat" to security in order to peddle their wares. I’d spent years running emerging tech risk labs to separate fact from fiction, and ...