[Cryptography] Spooky quantum radar at a distance

Henry Baker hbaker1 at pipeline.com
Sun Sep 25 12:51:57 EDT 2016


FYI --

http://download.fora.tv/rss_media/Long_Now_Podcasts/podcast-02016-08-09-lloyd.mp3

~105 minutes; ~200MBytes

Seth Lloyd: Quantum Computer Reality

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 2:30 AM

Quantum computing is widely considered to be: The most potentially transformative technology of this century; Nothing but hope and hype.  A reliable reporter who is familiar with all of the rich variety of quantum research going on and the reality of the remarkable progress in the field (along with its still-expanding potential) is quantum pioneer Seth Lloyd, professor of mechanical engineering and physics at MIT.  Lloyd describes himself as a mechanic of quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum biology.  He is director of MIT’s Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory, which is working on breakthroughs in general-purpose optimization, vastly enhanced communication, and ultra-precise measurement.  In his book Programming the Universe (2006) he proposes that the universe is a vast quantum computer that can eventually be completely understood through local-scale quantum computation.

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MIT Prof. Seth Lloyd addresses precisely the spooky quantum radar question at approx. 80 minutes into this 105-minute talk about quantum mechanics.

Basically, Seth says that you generate correlated photons; keep one circulating in a fiber-optic loop (or other quantum storage device) while shooting the other up into the air.  You then attempt to correlate "returning" photons with your stored photons; if there is *excess* correlation, then the chances are very good that the "returning" photons have bounced off something, and *are actually returning*.



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