The Bridge - February 2018 - 6

Guest Editor

Quantum Entanglement: Engineering the Future
Four years ago, I wrote an article in The Bridge talking about
the coming importance of quantum entanglement for electrical
engineering applications. While not a Nostradamus-like prediction
as commercialization was well under way at that time, activity and
corporate involvement in these areas have exploded recently.

Sean J. Bentley
IEEE-HKN Board
of Governors
Guest Editor
Gamma Theta Chapter

The Quantum Computing for Business (Q2B) conference was held at NASAAmes Research Center in early December, 2017. The conference not only drew
companies developing the technology, but also companies such as VW, Goldman
Sachs, and Airbus, with plans to apply quantum computing to a wide variety of
industries. D-Wave, the first company to have commercially available quantum
computers, has deployed their equipment into several major research efforts
including artificial intelligence. Technology giants Google and IBM are currently
battling for the lead in the race for the most powerful quantum computer. Both
public and private funding for quantum computing research around the world
has increased dramatically in the past few years.
Quantum cryptographic systems have now been in use at various levels for over
a decade, though much progress continues to be made. There are still concerns
with possible security vulnerabilities (with one discussed in this issue), speed,
and widespread implementation. Thus, most systems continue to use more
traditional cryptographic methods, but with the reality of quantum computers
looming and their predicted ability to defeat such classical systems, the
government is determined to perfect quantum cryptography sooner than later.
Modern electrical and computer engineering have long been based heavily
in two quantum-based technologies, the transistor and the laser. Because of
this, electrical engineering students have long been required to take at least a
modern physics course, where you learn some basics of quantum mechanics,
including properties referred to by many as "quantum weirdness." Most of these
weird properties can be accepted easily, though, if you are willing to accept that
massive particles such as electrons can have wavelike properties. The uncertainty
principle is essentially nothing more than a Fourier transform diffraction limit.
Tunneling is completely analogous to evanescent coupling used in optics and
electromagnetics. Entanglement, however, is a whole new ballgame.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Bridge - February 2018