quantum.gov/wp-content/uplo … uition.pdf
Due to their improved accuracy, stability, sensitivity, and precision, quantum sensors offer some advantages over traditional technologies. In addition, quantum measurement devices and modalities without classical counterparts enable some tasks that were previously unfeasible. For example, single atomic spins can map magnetic fields with nanometer resolution. Matter-wave interferometers can monitor gravitational fields with unprecedented accuracy. Entanglement and many-body quantum states may enable even more profound capabilities, such as non-invasive imaging or measurement precision beyond the standard quantum limit. However, realizing such new technology and deriving major benefits for society can take years or even decades of innovation. A goal of the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) is to accelerate this process and bring more quantum sensors to fruition.
Successful exemplars of quantum sensors include atomic clocks, which have many applications including GPS navigation, and also magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, which are widely used in medicine. Beyond these well-known cases, quantum sensors at various stages of development are on the horizon, and some will offer disruptive capabilities for industry, defense, and science. However, it is difficult to predict which platforms will become most useful, as translating research from the lab to market can take long and circuitous pathways.1 To wit, the inventors of early atomic clocks probably never envisioned the advent of the ride hailing and food delivery apps that currently use atomic clocks to facilitate pick-up and drop-off via GPS navigation. In a similar spirit, tomorrow’s enterprises may leverage novel quantum sensors for applications that are not yet foreseen.
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whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo … c-systems/
Section 1. Policy. (a) Quantum computers hold the potential to drive innovations across the American economy, from fields as diverse as materials science and pharmaceuticals to finance and energy. While the full range of applications of quantum computers is still unknown, it is nevertheless clear that America’s continued technological and scientific leadership will depend, at least in part, on the Nation’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage in quantum computing and QIS.
(b) Yet alongside its potential benefits, quantum computing also poses significant risks to the economic and national security of the United States. Most notably, a quantum computer of sufficient size and sophistication — also known as a cryptanalytically relevant quantum computer (CRQC) — will be capable of breaking much of the public-key cryptography used on digital systems across the United States and around the world. When it becomes available, a CRQC could jeopardize civilian and military communications, undermine supervisory and control systems for critical infrastructure, and defeat security protocols for most Internet-based financial transactions.
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For a nation that advocates globalism, they sure say a lot of ‘I’s… so benefiting who, the most?