Will Quantum Information Change Our Lives?
We have entered an era where sensors and networks are spread not only within smartphones but also throughout cities, factories, and medical sites, with digital twins and AI supporting decision-making. By reproducing the operating status of production lines in real time, adjusting signal control by predicting traffic flow, and analyzing individual health data for prevention, we are gradually increasing convenience and safety by collecting, predicting, and optimizing massive amounts of data. On the other hand, constraints on computational volume, power, and privacy are becoming stricter every year.
Quantum computing, which combines quantum computers, the quantum internet, and quantum sensors, is attracting attention as a foundational technology for social implementation in the near future. Because quantum technology utilizes properties such as superposition and entanglement for information processing, it has the potential to perform calculations that conventional computers cannot keep up with and to realize applications that are difficult to operate on the current internet. When quantum sensors capture "invisible changes" with high sensitivity, quantum computers take over massive searches and optimizations, and the quantum internet enables the exchange of quantum information, the accuracy and update frequency of digital twins and AI, as well as the very way personal information is safely shared and used, may change.
For example, blind quantum computing, which requests processing from a quantum computer on the cloud while keeping the calculation content and results confidential, and distributed quantum computing, which connects distant quantum computers to expand the calculation space, have been proposed. While these are highly compatible with fields where it is difficult to share data externally, such as medical care and lifelines, quantum devices are still expensive and delicate. That is why it is important to have a perspective that realistically estimates not only performance but also "how to operate" and "to what extent the cost is worth it."
In our laboratory, we are advancing research from both theoretical and implementation aspects, including middleware and compilers that draw out the performance of quantum computing, security design for the quantum internet, and quantification of operation costs for applications using quantum entanglement. Furthermore, by organically linking achievements born inside and outside the university and combining them with the development of a quantum internet OS, we aim to build a testbed for quantum internet applications where actual machines and simulators work together. Whether quantum information changes our lives depends not only on physical implementation but also on the appropriate design of the information domain. Let's work together to create a next-generation society that combines digital and quantum information.