Nobel Laureate Serge Haroche Quantum computing should not be exaggerated, wary of bubbles and hype
Yesterday, Nobel Prize winner in physics Serge Haroche on quantum computing. To avoid taking the interview out of context, we have found the full text of Haroche's interview.
Serge Haroche
Serge Haroche (born in Casablanca in 1944) is one of the winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics for his success in capturing and manipulating individual particles while preserving their quantum properties. This achievement is unthinkable: Erwin Schrödinger himself, one of the fathers of quantum physics, said almost a century ago that it was impossible to study individual particles. Schrödinger solved this problem with the principle of quantum superposition: since he could not separate and observe a physical system like the electron, he assumed that it existed in all theoretically possible states. Thus, the famous cat was born, locked in a box, both dead and alive before it could be observed.
Quantum mechanics has made possible the great technological advances of our time, from the first computers to fiber-optic links. the latest prize from the Swedish Academy, awarded on October 6, once again rewards this leap in the barriers of science. Three physicists have succeeded in controlling the communication between particles hundreds of kilometers away. Until then, so-called quantum entanglement (communication between particles over long distances without any physical connection) was only a scientific mystery.
01Research on quantum computers, still facing challenges
Q: What worlds have your research opened up?
Haroche: Our work in quantum technology is based on trying to achieve goals that are not possible according to classical physics. The most obvious example is atomic clocks, which are more accurate than those measuring current geographic locations. Another one is quantum communication using entanglement. This guarantees secret communication, which cannot be eavesdropped. Research in all these areas is very active. In particular, the research on quantum computers is the most difficult to implement because it has many challenges ahead of it.
Q: The Nobel Prize in physics has just been awarded to the field of quantum information, what does this achievement mean?
Haroche: It makes me very happy, because the winners are friends of mine for many years. Research on this problem began to be explored about 40 years ago, trying to show what happens when photons stay connected through an immaterial link we call entanglement, even when they are hundreds of kilometers away. At that time there were no experiments with practical applications. We were still about 20 years away until my award-winning experiments showed that manipulation of isolated quantum systems was possible. By communicating, we hope that people will start to believe that this is all something useful ......
Q: You defend the idea that you have to focus on what you call "useless science". What does that mean?
Haroche: It's important to know that everything we do out of curiosity, without looking for a specific result, will eventually work in ways we didn't expect. Let's think about one of the greatest advances in our field: lasers, which make global connectivity possible through fiber optics across oceans, were a concept that Einstein came up with but took nearly 40 years to realize. Ten years after its invention, we are already using quantum repeaters for communication, but those who developed it didn't know it could happen. Lasers are a perfect example of how basic science can be applied much later.
02Defending research itself in the face of commercial pressures
Haroche after the interview
"Progress is an amazing thing." Haroche said he visited Buenos Aires last week at the invitation of the Organization of Ibero-American States to celebrate International Science Week: defending research as an end in itself in the face of the urgency of the market and the constant demand for results in our time.
Q: Recently, there has been a lot of talk about progress in quantum computing; companies like Google or IBM say they are making great strides in this area. Is this not true?
Haroche: Quantum superposition is very fragile. So far, we can only control a few particles at a time, and we need to be able to manipulate millions of particles to implement quantum computers. I think there's a lot of hype because companies are competing and they need to show results. There is no doubt that the work they are doing is interesting, but there is still a lot of work to be done and we should not exaggerate. The history of science tells us that technological developments are almost always unexpected, and they almost never come close to what we intended. The gap between basic science and its applications is always accompanied by unexpected twists and turns. We must be careful.
Q: Aren't these companies being cautious?
Haroche: They are not negligent, which runs through the logic of their work: they need to show a product that can be sold. I'm looking at it from a purely scientific point of view, not from the point of view of someone who needs to produce something in order to make a profit. By being careful, I mean that we can't predict what will happen in two or three years because the investigation will take longer and a lot will happen in the process.
Q: Why this eagerness?
Haroche: There are many fantasies that may not happen. none of the great technological advances of the 20th century were predicted: lasers, the Internet, classical computers, GPS positioning ...... Even if a quantum computer could be built, it would be a huge machine that would need to work at very low temperatures. It is not something that can be sold as a laptop.
Q: We won't have quantum phones any time soon?
Haroche: I really don't think there will be a quantum phone anytime soon. But the idea helps us explain the huge challenge facing the future of quantum computers: the phone in your hand is more powerful than the computer that monitored man's trip to the moon. Progress is a wonderful thing, and the next step is the hardest.
Q: How has research changed over the years?
Haroche: There was a lot of support for scientists in the days of Einstein and Schrödinger, and they were well paid. It's true that research was less expensive then, but in our time everything has become more complicated. Competition is fiercer, and funding is more limited. Work has become more complex: we need young people to put their creativity into science, but their opportunities are very limited.
03Times have changed: Technology, government and society
Q: What is the role of government in this?
Haroche: The government should understand that science is a long-term venture. There is no commitment to them, something we used to associate with countries with fragile political systems, but which has now started to spread: for example, it is now happening in the United States. Science has been neglected during the Trump administration, and that is a huge problem. If we want science to solve our most pressing problems, such as climate change, we need a strong and sustained political commitment.
Q: Do you think science has lost its authority in our time?
Haroche: Yes, completely. Science lives under threat. Scientists question the truths that govern our time, but they do so based on rational skepticism, on skepticism that challenges theories that don't explain all the facts. That's why conspiracy theories are so counterintuitive: they are based on the idea that anything can be challenged with an opinion, and that opinions are valid as theories.
Q: What happened?
Haroche: I think it's a sociological question, but one explanation is that we've entered a dangerous phase of globalization. There are people who are excluded, who are isolated, who feel helpless in the face of the evolution that our world promises. They react by questioning it in their communities, in their thought bubbles. And that's a tough place for scientific tools to be, because they are not conducive to uniting against each other. Anti-scientific thinking is what unites people with each other, and science cannot work there because it is universal, rational and objective.
Reference link：
https://rivaltimes.com/serge-haroche-nobel-prize-in-physics-we-should-not-exaggerate-advances-in-quantum-computing-there-is-a-lot-of-hype/
