The Race,,,, to Quantum Supremacy Rohan Kumar
is a first-year intending to major in Physics and Mathematics. He is excited by research into quantum technology and is always looking for opportunities to get involved in the field. Outside the classroom, Rohan enjoys playing his alto saxophone, making dumb jokes, and engaging in oddly specific philosophical debate.
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he year was 2013, and Edward Snowden had just released the first set of leaked documents from his time as an employee at the National Security Agency. Among these documents was information pertaining to a $79.7 million investment in Owning the Net (OTN), a project to develop a quantum computer capable of reading and decrypting important communications across the Internet. This information leak was one of the catalysts of public interest in quantum technology. Today, global superpowers are investing billions of dollars into quantum computing and security. But what is a quantum computer, and why is it best suited to the task of Owning the Net? To answer this, we must briefly take a look at some of the funda- Edward Snowden. THE TRIPLE HELIX Spring 2020
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