{"id":454374,"date":"2018-01-17T13:23:22","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T21:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?p=454374"},"modified":"2020-04-23T15:24:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T22:24:33","slug":"future-is-quantum-with-dr-krysta-svore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/podcast\/future-is-quantum-with-dr-krysta-svore\/","title":{"rendered":"The future is quantum with Dr. Krysta Svore"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_453729\" style=\"width: 1010px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"http:\/\/https\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/people\/ksvore\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-453729\" class=\"wp-image-453729 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2018\/01\/MicrosoftResearch_Podcast_Krysta_BlogHeader_1000x400-5a57d48478730.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2018\/01\/MicrosoftResearch_Podcast_Krysta_BlogHeader_1000x400-5a57d48478730.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2018\/01\/MicrosoftResearch_Podcast_Krysta_BlogHeader_1000x400-5a57d48478730-300x120.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2018\/01\/MicrosoftResearch_Podcast_Krysta_BlogHeader_1000x400-5a57d48478730-768x307.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-453729\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Microsoft Principal Research Manager Dr. Krysta Svore. Photography by Maryatt Photography.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Episode 8, January 17, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Future is Quantum with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/people\/ksvore\/\">Dr. Krysta Svore<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If someone mentions quantum computing, and you find yourself outwardly nodding your head, but secretly shaking it, you\u2019re in good company: some of the world\u2019s smartest people admit they don\u2019t really understand it either. Fortunately, some of the world\u2019s other smartest people, like Dr. Krysta Svore, Principal Research Manager of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/group\/microsoft-quantum-redmond-quarc\/\">Microsoft Quantum<\/a> \u2013 or QuArC &#8211; group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, actually DO understand quantum computing, and are working hard to make it a reality.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Dr. Svore shares her passion for quantum algorithms and their potential to solve some of the world\u2019s biggest problems, explains why Microsoft\u2019s topological quantum bit \u2013 or qubit \u2013 is a game changer for quantum computing, and assures us that, although qubits live in dilution refrigerators at temperatures near absolute zero, quantum researchers can still sit in the comfort of their offices and work with the computer programmer\u2019s equivalent of Schroedinger\u2019s Cat.<\/p>\n<p><b>Relate<\/b><b>d:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/podcast\">Microsoft Research Podcast<\/a>: Visit our podcast page on Microsoft.com<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/microsoft-research-a-podcast\/id1318021537?mt=2\">iTunes<\/a>: Subscribe and listen to new podcasts each week on iTunes<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/subscribebyemail.com\/www.blubrry.com\/feeds\/microsoftresearch.xml\">Email<\/a>: Subscribe and listen by email<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/subscribeonandroid.com\/www.blubrry.com\/feeds\/microsoftresearch.xml\">Android<\/a>: Subscribe and listen on Android<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4ndjUXyL0hH1FXHgwIiTWU\">Spotify<\/a>: Listen on Spotify<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blubrry.com\/feeds\/microsoftresearch.xml\">RSS feed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/quantum\/development-kit\">Quantum Development Kit<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Transcript<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: The problems we\u2019re looking at solving with a quantum computer are the problems that, today, require age-of-the-universe time scales. I\u2019m not going to be around for that solution. Some of these problems literally require billions and billions and billions of years to solve. And on a quantum computer, what we\u2019ve shown in some recent research, is that you can solve some of these problems in a matter of say, weeks, days, hours, seconds. I\u2019ll be around for those solutions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[Music plays]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: You\u2019re listening to the Microsoft Research podcast. A show that brings you closer to the cutting edge of technology research and the scientists behind it. I\u2019m your host, Gretchen Huizinga.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>If someone mentions quantum computing and you find yourself outwardly nodding your head but secretly shaking it, you\u2019re in good company. Some of the world\u2019s smartest people admit they don\u2019t really understand it either. Fortunately, some of the world\u2019s other smartest people, like Dr. Krysta Svore, Principle Research Manager of the Microsoft Quantum, or QuArC, Group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, actually do understand quantum computing and are working hard to make it a reality.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Today, Dr. Svore shares her passion for quantum algorithms and their potential to solve some of the world\u2019s biggest problems, explains why Microsoft\u2019s topological quantum bit \u2013 or qubit \u2013 is a game-changer for quantum computing and assures us that although qubits live in dilution refrigerators at temperatures near absolute zero, quantum researchers can still sit in the comfort of their offices and work with the computer programmers equivalent of Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s Cat.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>That and much more on this episode of the Microsoft Research Podcast.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>[Music plays]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, Krysta. Your research revolves around quantum algorithms. Tell us what\u2019s so cool about quantum algorithms and how you got interested in that line of research.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Quantum algorithms, for me, they really serve the promise of being able to solve things that we can\u2019t solve today with digital computers. Quantum \u2013 quantum computing more generally \u2013 really unlocks this amazing potential for computation. And so, for me quantum algorithms are the ability to actually do something with that computer, right? Algorithms being the recipes that you run on the machine. And so developing quantum algorithms that can actually solve real world problems that are going to make a difference, that\u2019s a huge thing, a huge passion of mine, to see, how can we actually change the world, change our outlook for clean energy, or food production? You know things that really affect humanity. We have the potential to solve some or at least help combat some of those with quantum algorithms and with a quantum computer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: When did you decide quantum was the algorithm of choice for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, that\u2019s a good question! So, I, in college I studied mathematics. During my junior year I had a seminar from Andrew Wiles who is a famous mathematician. He solved Fermat\u2019s Last Theorem. And in that seminar, he introduced the idea \u2013 it was a seminar on cryptography \u2013 and he introduced this idea that there was this model of computation that could break this cryptosystem that we use all over today, RSA, based on the problem of factoring. And he introduced that this model of computation \u2013 quantum computing namely \u2013 could actually break this cryptosystem and I became fascinated that there was this other model one could compute with. And I also had a keen interest in computer science so I wanted to understand well, how do you use that model, you know? How would you write an algorithm to do that? How would you design a programming language and software stack to then implement that algorithm on the hardware, and that started many years of study and fascination with quantum computing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, we\u2019re assuming a fairly high level of technical sophistication in our listeners. So, it\u2019s not really a quantum for dummies podcast.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: But I think there\u2019s room for a short elevator pitch on what quantum computing is and how it differs from classic computing. So, 2 minutes\u2026 go!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, so with quantum computing you\u2019re really relying on the principles of quantum mechanics to compute. And these principles are just so vastly different than what we have classically. Things like superposition, entanglement, interference, you know, these terms \u2013 if anyone\u2019s listened to Feynman, Richard Feynman and his lectures or studied Einstein\u2019s notes and papers you would\u2019ve come across these terms. So, entanglement being this amazing ability to have two systems that can be correlated over you know universes apart. That when you do one to one thing it automatically, instantaneously does one to another. That\u2019s a pretty incredible property. And then things like superposition. So, when I take a quantum computer, I rely on superposition to store the information. What that means is instead of just having a bit in my classical computer, my classical computer of course is just binary. It\u2019s on or off. It\u2019s a switch. In a quantum computer, I like to think of it a little bit like a dimmer switch, right? Your information is actually stored in a quantum state. And that quantum state can take on both 0 and 1. It takes on basically a linear combination of 0 and 1. And this allows you to then scale up and achieve some of these amazing, exponential improvements with quantum computing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, you lead the Microsoft QuArC, which is Quantum Architecture and Computation, group at Microsoft Research in Redmond. Tell us about your team and your partnerships and your vision for quantum computing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, so we started QuArC now almost, gosh I think it\u2019s 7 years ago. We started embarking on the idea that we wanted to determine what do we do with a quantum computer? It has all this promise and all this potential. And then how are you going to make it do that, right? How are you going to program it? How are you going to get that algorithm into that hardware system? And it uses these vastly different principles, right? Vastly different systems. It requires classical computers unlike any we\u2019ve built before, in addition to this quantum computer and quantum system we\u2019ve never built before. And so, our focus has been to really not only answer those questions but then also make it accessible to a broader community.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, you\u2019ve just done that. Talk about the kit that you just released.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah. We\u2019re pretty excited. We released what we call the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/quantum\/development-kit\">Quantum Development Kit<\/a>. And this Quantum Development Kit is really developed in order to make quantum computing more accessible to developers, quantum enthusiasts, students, academics, researchers, anyone who has a keen interest to learn how to take advantage of this amazing resource. And the kit includes, of course, a brand-new quantum focused, domain-specific language for quantum computing. We call our language Q#. And Q# is embedded in Visual Studio. So not only do you get this brand-new language, you know, then you also have \u2013 in Visual Studio \u2013 you have all these great things you can take advantage of like debugging, code colorization, you know, syntax highlighting, \u201chelp\u201d information when you hover on functions and operations. And so, it makes it that much more accessible and hopefully you know, lowers the barrier of entry into quantum computing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Do you have to be an expert in quantum mechanics or quantum physics to understand this field and start developing for programming in it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: You know, we really hope that you don\u2019t. You know, if we were limited to just looking at developers that understood quantum mechanics, it might be a small group. We want to really open up quantum computing to a broad audience, make it accessible to everyone. And so, the idea is that you need not know quantum mechanics. You know, after all, I\u2019m in this field, I\u2019m a computer scientist. I\u2019m not a physicist. I did not take quantum mechanics in college. You know, I came at this from the perspective a computer scientist, someone who wanted to use this to change computation. And so here, we\u2019re hoping more people want to come and learn about this space and develop algorithms and applications in this space. And you need not know quantum mechanics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Which is fascinating because for people that are wanting to get into quantum computing, if there\u2019s super high barriers to entry, you turn off a lot of people right off the bat, so\u2026 How does Q# differ from other programming languages since it\u2019s a quantum tool and does it work on both simulators and actual quantum computers as we speak?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, so Q# has really been designed to target a quantum computer and the model of computation you have in a quantum computer. It actually operates hand-in-hand with a classical programming language as well. So, what\u2019s important to remember about a quantum computer is that it\u2019s a hybrid device. It\u2019s like a co-processor, an accelerator. So, you would program much of your application and the kind of wrapper code in a standard language, and then you would call this Q# program that then is the program that\u2019s really specified to the quantum accelerator. Q#\u2019s designed with that in mind. So, the whole idea is that Q# brings with it the ability to easily set up things like entanglement, a superposition, use interference to design your quantum algorithm and allow it to evolve. A functionality that\u2019s required in quantum algorithms is very, very different than the functionality we use in classical algorithms. And so, in Q# we bring this right to the forefront so that it\u2019s readily accessible to the developer.<\/p>\n<p>[Music plays]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: One of the challenges in quantum computing is the instability of qubits, that you think this concept of a topological qubit may address. Or is addressing\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, what\u2019s a topological qubit, and how will it help in quantum computing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Right, so with quantum computing we rely on qubits, right? So, qubits are how we store information in the quantum computer. It stands for a quantum bit. So, we say qubit. And these qubits, what we have to realize is that they want to interact all the time with their environment. This is not a good thing for quantum computing. We want them to remain in vacuum, isolated from thermal noise and other noise processes. And so, when they start to want to entangle with their environment that means that they get noisy. That entanglement with the environment causes us to lose the information in the qubit. So, we have to prevent that. We have to really isolate the system. Now, there are various ways to isolate the system. And the approach Microsoft\u2019s taking is truly unique and fundamentally more scalable. So, the idea is that we should seek a way to actually engineer into how we\u2019re going to store and compute on the information in the quantum computer? We should engineer that such that it\u2019s more robust. You know, from the foundation. So, imagine you want to build a skyscraper, and imagine I have a brick. And all of us, you know, we look at bricks as extremely robust. But try to build a skyscraper out of bricks, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Right.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: It\u2019s very, very hard. It\u2019s probably not the way you want to go about it. A better way is to go employ steel. So, steel, it\u2019s a different type of foundation from which to build this skyscraper but it\u2019s going to allow you to scale quickly. It\u2019s going to be much more robust against changes, you know, natural disasters, whatever they may, be for this skyscraper. And so, our qubit is like the steel qubit. And our system with the steel style qubit, a topological qubit as we call it, we\u2019re going to be able to scale much more readily and it\u2019s going to require less overhead, less additional resources, less additional cost, less additional time, right, to get to higher numbers of compute capability, higher numbers of qubits. So, you know, one way to think about it is we can do more with less. We can do more computation with fewer qubits because they\u2019re like this steel. They\u2019re very, very strong.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, it\u2019s different kind of qubit altogether?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Exactly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: And it\u2019s unique to Microsoft Research?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yes. This qubit\u2014the topological qubit\u2014actually Michael Friedman who joined MSR in the late 90s, he developed the ideas behind this qubit with Alexei Kitaev who was at Microsoft at the time and colleagues, collaborators at several universities. The ideas of this qubit have come out, indeed, out of Microsoft and Microsoft Research, in particular.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: They were conceptualized here.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yes, exactly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Let\u2019s move over to this system of quantum computing. It doesn\u2019t \u2013 a quantum computer doesn\u2019t operate on its own, it needs a bit of an ecosystem. Tell the listeners a little bit about what all has to happen to make a quantum computer work in our constrained world.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Here again when we think about the quantum ecosystem, Microsoft has a very unique approach and our approach is to say we want to build a comprehensive, scalable, quantum system. We don\u2019t want to just build the quantum computer that\u2019s going to enable 50 or 100 qubits. We want to enable the quantum computer that\u2019s going to scale to thousands, ten thousands, hundreds of thousands and beyond. That will unlock truly amazing solutions to the world\u2019s most challenging problems. So, when we think about that ecosystem, what does it include? At the one end we have to have a qubit to store and compute the information quantum mechanically. That qubit sits at millikelvin temperatures in our system. So, to put that in perspective, that is very close to absolute zero. And so, you have to actually engineer, first, you have this dilution refrigerator around the whole system that maintains this cold environment, and this is also to help protect the qubits against noise, against interacting and entangling with the environment. At the very top of this, you know, think of it as this system or stack, we want to ask the quantum computer to do something, right? We want to program it. So, we\u2019re writing quantum algorithms, and I don\u2019t know about the rest of the listeners, but I write quantum algorithms in room temperature environments. And so, I\u2019m going to have to interact with this system that\u2019s sitting at almost absolute zero, you know, close to minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit, and somehow, we have to get that program, the controlled information, everything down to that chip. That means that part of the system requires an extensive control plane. And we also have to ask to run the quantum you know, subroutines if you will, from a classical program. So, we still need a classical computer. And that computer sits at say, 4 Kelvin. And so, we have to engineer and design and develop not only the quantum chip, but this classical computer that is unlike any classical computer we\u2019ve ever designed before. It\u2019s operating at temperatures we\u2019ve never really tried to operate classical computers at before. So, we\u2019re designing that. We\u2019re designing the quantum chip itself and then all the software, right, that connects all of this. And then from there, you have to compile that program to this system. And so, we\u2019re developing not only a complete hardware stack, but also the complete software stack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, it sounds like you have a multi-disciplinary expertise needed to pull this off.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Exactly. So, another key, unique feature I believe of our quantum program here at Microsoft and Microsoft Research is really our team. So, we have assembled this amazing global team of experts that have come together, coming from, you know, various fields. It\u2019s not just physicists. You know, you also need computer scientists. You need electrical engineers. You need cryogenic engineers, right? You need the developers, the software engineers, right\u2026 Go on and on. And we\u2019ve built this amazing quantum dream-team that\u2019s global, sitting in more than 10 countries around the world. And together we\u2019re driving forward a comprehensive quantum system and looking at it from every angle. And the people that sit on this team are incredible, I, you know, Michael Friedman who helped start the whole quantum program at Microsoft, he\u2019s a Field\u2019s Medalist in mathematics, right? We have someone on our team who founded Cray Computing. We have another person that\u2019s been the key architect at Intel. We have experimental physicists that have been professors at Harvard and Delft and we have people that have won awards in computational physics, right? You have all of these amazing, absolutely inspiring minds working on this problem together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Including yours.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Well, thank you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Talk about cool. When we talked before, you told me that quantum computers already actually exist on a small scale. Real ones, not simulated-environment quantum computers. How well are these working now and what are the challenges to scaling these systems?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: It\u2019s exciting to see that we have quantum computers in a very small prototype setting in existence today. Now, those quantum computers we have, they rely on this type of qubit that is similar to this brick notion I mentioned, right? And so, what happens is their error rates are not robust enough to scale without having a lot of overhead to achieve scale. And when I say a lot it means, you know, for each qubit that I would express at the algorithm level, I may need somewhere between 1,000 to 10,000 physical qubits in my quantum device to represent just one at the algorithmic level. We call that a logical qubit. Now, with the topological qubit, the type that we\u2019re working on here at Microsoft, the idea is that you don\u2019t need that overhead. It\u2019s built into kind of the hardware level if you will. It\u2019s fundamental to how we design our qubit from the beginning. And so one topological qubit, you know, we believe is going to be equivalent to roughly 1,000 to 10,000 of these other qubits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: That\u2019s orders of magnitude.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yes, indeed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Is there even a hint that the topological qubit is ready for primetime any time soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Well, we\u2019re working of course, actively and as quickly as possible to develop a working prototype for the quantum computer based on topological qubits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: That would be big.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Right now\u2014we really think it\u2019s imminent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: This is just an exciting time to be in this field and in this place. Isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: It\u2019s thrilling. It\u2019s like a total dream come true.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[Music plays]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Talk a little bit about the impact that quantum computing could have on things like AI and machine learning.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Sure. So, you know, of all things when I joined Microsoft Research a little over 11 years ago, one of the first things I worked on was machine learning here. And so, I worked with the Bing team and wonderful people there on ranking algorithms for web search and other things as well. And it\u2019s pretty remarkable that now, you know, at that time, I had done a PhD in quantum computing and then gone on to learn some machine learning at that time. You know, I would not have expected that we would then be merging those two fields in this short, you know, roughly a decade period of time. And what do you know, I think 6, maybe 6 or so years ago now, we started working on our first quantum machine algorithms. And I really think we\u2019ve pushed the boundary there in the last few years. So, we\u2019re really excited to be able to show speed-ups in quantum machine learning. So, by using a quantum algorithm to do training of say a deep neural network or a Boltzmann machine or perceptron, you can get speed-ups in terms of those training times. I think what is perhaps even more fascinating is that in quantum machine learning, you have this device, you have this quantum computer at your fingertips, that can model nature. Which goes back to things that Feynman referred to. You know, this amazing, entrancing capability of nature to do things. With a quantum computer, you can be able to actually compute closer to how nature computes and when we think about that, you know, what does that mean for unlocking patterns or you know, models in speech and language and vision? And I think it\u2019s pretty remarkable and what we see is that when you add some of these quantum properties or quantum terms to models, this can greatly enhance the model of the data or the model of the information at hand. You actually get fundamentally different things out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Right. So, on the same note, tell me what the potential impact is on things like cryptography, security, privacy. Because on that side of things, it seems, in my mind anyway, that there\u2019s great promise and also great risk.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Right. So, one of the earliest quantum algorithms we have, dating back to 1994, is this algorithm by Peter Shor that shows that you can perform what\u2019s called factoring on a quantum computer efficiently. Now, why do we care about factoring? Well, this is what underlies pretty much every digital encryption scheme we use, pretty much every cryptosystem on the internet and of course, one thinks, \u201coh wow,\u201d right? A quantum computer is going to attack and break this cryptosystem. That feels like a threat. However, the great news is that there are cryptosystems that aren\u2019t able to be attacked by a quantum computer. And this is something Microsoft Research is also doing. We have a whole team here looking at what are those protocols that are going to be robust against quantum attacks, against quantum computers breaking them? And these are classical systems. Classical systems that can easily and readily replace things like RSA. These protocols have been put forth, Brian LaMacchia\u2019s team in Microsoft Research for example, has been working on this and they have protocols that they believe are robust and of course it will take, you know, maybe a decade to switch over the software, all the calls to RSA in our present software.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Right.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: But if we start today, we will be you know, fundamentally ready. So, when a quantum computer of the size required to break RSA exists, we won\u2019t be using it to break RSA, we\u2019re going to be using it to solve you know, these amazing problems we have in the world, you know, clean energy, food production, so forth. Carbon capture. Because we will have robust security systems.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, you\u2019re looking at both sides of the issues\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Both making it and preventing it from being malicious?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Exactly. Yeah, we know that there\u2019s a way to prevent this and that\u2019s by bringing forth what we call post-quantum crypto methods. These are the classical methods that will be robust against quantum attacks. And they exist and they\u2019re being well studied. NIST, for example, in the United States, is looking over these protocols and is going to put forth which one, you know, one should switch to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Interesting.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: So that\u2019s all happening in real-time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: That\u2019s cool. You said one of the good things about quantum research is that it\u2019s revealing issues both about quantum computing and classical computing at the same time. So what kinds of things are you discovering?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, what\u2019s great is when you start studying another field, often it lends these amazing insights back to some other field. And in this case when we look at quantum computing, it\u2019s pretty amazing. We\u2019ve learned a lot about classical computing. Actually, when we start working on quantum machine learning, we thought, oh my gosh, we found an exponential speed up over the state-of-the-art for quantum computing, right? A quantum algorithm to do machine learning. And when we dug under the hood, we realized, oh my gosh, these ideas apply to classical machine learning. And so, we sped up the classical algorithm. That\u2019s a great outcome of studying quantum computing. And this is now happening, you know, that\u2019s just one example. But this is happening repeatedly in machine learning, optimization, theoretical computer science. We\u2019re learning more and more about classical functions, about how to do classical optimization and we\u2019re improving those methods greatly, drawing from ideas that we\u2019re learning because we\u2019re looking at quantum computing and quantum algorithm design and so forth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[Music plays]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: What was your path to Microsoft Research? How did you end up here?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: So, I did my PhD at Columbia University in computer science and my advisor there was a huge fan, or is, I should say, is a huge fan of Microsoft Research, and had suggested I look at Microsoft Research as a potential place to come. And at the time, I was doing a PhD in quantum computing. My dissertation was on fault-tolerant, scalable quantum computing. Which is what I\u2019m still doing today. And so, I became quite interested in looking at Microsoft. I had heard, you know, it was this incredible environment and it employed the most PhDs in computer science of anywhere on the planet. In school, you often think an academic you know; university position is the only place that you can go forward and continue research and publication and collaboration and so forth. And yet, here was this amazing, amazing institution that had more PhDs and more people studying computer science and how to use it to you know really change different aspects of our technology landscape. And so, I thought, wow, that looks like a pretty amazing place to look at. So, I looked at it and, what do you know, I ended up here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: I forget who said it\u2026 I think it might\u2019ve been Michael Friedman, that Microsoft is the largest curiosity-driven research enterprise in the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Oh, I love that! I think that curiosity and creativity, those are two things you see so much of here. And such an enthusiasm to learn something new, and to work with others that aren\u2019t quite in the same, you know, vein of research you\u2019re in. There are so many amazing people. They\u2019re all here right at your fingertips. And the more you reach out, the more you learn. And again, it goes back to contributions going all directions, right? That helps us advance not only quantum computing, but it feeds back ideas to their line of research and it\u2019s just this incredible growth of ideas and output and impact, so.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: You can\u2019t go down and get coffee without bumping into 3 geniuses.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Right, which is a great thing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Isn\u2019t it the coolest thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: It\u2019s a treat to go get coffee around here, right? Because you ultimately end up in some incredible conversation and you learn something new every single time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: I was going to say, I bet the water cooler conversations around here are sort of on another level.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Sometimes. And I would have to say it\u2019s encouraging for me to note, on the blog that announced the kit, the dev kit that just came out, there\u2019s a quote that even some of the smartest people in the world confess they don\u2019t understand quantum computing. And then when I clicked on that link because it was in blue, it took me to Bill Gates and Satya Nadella. And it\u2019s like what? I don\u2019t feel so bad. As we close, I have to ask, is there any work going on in the quantum snack food lines of research? Because I\u2019m always looking for something yummy that\u2019s both more filling and less filling at the same time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Exactly, right? Something that\u2019s good for you and bad for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Right. More filling, tastes great. Less filling, tastes great.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Actually, I do want to circle back to another question. Because I think every time we talk about something that has the big potential for good, we also have to look at the big potential for bad. And quantum seems the most intimidating because how hard it is to understand. But also, what the promise is. Talk to me about the length of time needed to solve say an NP hard problem versus what we can ask today of a computer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, so when we think about quantum computing, it\u2019s important, I think first to realize that quantum computers aren\u2019t going to replace all computers we have today. It\u2019s really going to solve a special class of problems, a certain class. Kind of similar to how we use supercomputers, right. We\u2019re not using supercomputers to do our email or our Word documents, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: You\u2019re not?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, I wish. I mean maybe I\u2019d get more email done. But you know, it\u2019s really a special purpose device. We don\u2019t send every subroutine to a GPU when we\u2019re programming, right? So, you know, you have to look at what problems you want to send to a quantum computer and not every problem will be sped up by a quantum computer. But a pretty incredible set of problems are sped up by a quantum computer, and that happens to be problems in the areas of you know, as we talked about, machine learning and artificial intelligence, but also the simulation of physical systems. So, studying quantum chemistry, studying problems in the space of like catalysis, in potentially medicine, health, optimization problems. These problems are great candidates for getting a quantum speed up as we say. Or you know, for getting a fundamentally different solution. And they unlock their really, the problems we\u2019re looking at solving with a quantum computer are the problems that today, require age-of-the-universe time scales, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Wait, wait\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, age-of-the-universe. I\u2019m not going to be around for that solution. I don\u2019t know about you. But\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: I might.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: But age-of-the-universe time scales is a very, very long time to wait for a solution. Now, you know, problems as I just mentioned, in catalysis, like when we look at trying to understand how a catalyst will improve a reaction rate. Some of these problems literally require billions and billions and billions of years to solve, using not just, you know, today\u2019s supercomputers, but post-exascale supercomputers, also, will see the same type of time requirements. And on a quantum computer, what we can show, and what we\u2019ve shown in some recent research, is that you can solve some of these problems in a matter of say, weeks, days, hours, seconds. All of those timeframes seem very doable. I will definitely, you know, I\u2019ll be around for those solutions. So, going from billions of years to a week or a month, you know, we train machine learning models for months all the time, you know?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: Oh, my goodness.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: So, we\u2019re looking at really bringing down, you know, really unlocking solutions for some of these problems with quantum computing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: So, is there anything in what you\u2019ve just said that keeps you up at night about that information?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Well, what keeps me up at night is I want us to get there faster, you know? I think about, gosh, you know, how can we unlock even more the ability to program this device? Because the potential is so huge, and I think that\u2019s so exciting that we could potentially combat global warming with a solution coming from a quantum computer in conjunction with solutions from classical computers, right? That\u2019s pretty amazing that this device could help us do that. It could help us better produce artificial fertilizer and in turn help food production. It could help us better model machine learning., and\u2026 The unlocks are so huge that what keeps me up at night is just I want to\u2026 there\u2019s not enough time in the day to get all of this done, you know, you want to work so fast at this because it\u2019s so promising and it\u2019s so exciting, that it\u2019s hard to want to go to sleep.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: That\u2019s awesome. That\u2019s a closer, \u201cIt\u2019s hard to want to go to sleep.\u201d Krysta Svore, thanks for coming in today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Well thank you so much.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: It\u2019s inspiring to hear your passion and cool stuff you\u2019re doing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah, well, everyone go download the quantum development kit and we\u2019d love to see a quantum community really, really develop here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: No pun intended.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Krysta Svore: Yeah. Exactly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[Music plays]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Host: To learn more about Dr. Krysta Svore, and Microsoft\u2019s distinct approach to quantum computing visit Microsoft.com\/research.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Episode 8, January 17, 2018 &#8211; If someone mentions quantum computing, and you find yourself outwardly nodding your head, but secretly shaking it, you\u2019re in good company: some of the world\u2019s smartest people admit they don\u2019t really understand it either. Fortunately, some of the world\u2019s other smartest people, like Dr. Krysta Svore, Principal Research Manager of the Microsoft Quantum \u2013 or QuArC &#8211; group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, actually DO understand quantum computing, and are working hard to make it a reality.<br \/>\nToday, Dr. Svore shares her passion for quantum algorithms and their potential to solve some of the world\u2019s biggest problems, explains why Microsoft\u2019s topological quantum bit \u2013 or qubit \u2013 is a game changer for quantum computing, and assures us that, although qubits live in dilution refrigerators at temperatures near absolute zero, quantum researchers can still sit in the comfort of their offices and work with the computer programmer\u2019s equivalent of Schroedinger\u2019s Cat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37074,"featured_media":452953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"msr-url-field":"https:\/\/player.blubrry.com\/id\/30629782","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240054,205401,205403],"tags":[],"research-area":[243138],"msr-region":[256048],"msr-event-type":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-promo-type":[],"msr-podcast-series":[],"class_list":["post-454374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-msr-podcast","category-quantum","category-women-in-computing","msr-research-area-quantum","msr-region-global","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_event_details":{"start":"","end":"","location":""},"podcast_url":"https:\/\/player.blubrry.com\/id\/30629782","podcast_episode":"","msr_research_lab":[],"msr_impact_theme":[],"related-publications":[],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[],"related-academic-programs":[],"related-groups":[],"related-projects":[],"related-events":[],"related-researchers":[],"msr_type":"Post","featured_image_thumbnail":"<img width=\"480\" height=\"280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2018\/01\/MicrosoftResearch_Podcast_Krysta_Carousel_480x280.jpg\" class=\"img-object-cover\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2018\/01\/MicrosoftResearch_Podcast_Krysta_Carousel_480x280.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2018\/01\/MicrosoftResearch_Podcast_Krysta_Carousel_480x280-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/>","byline":"","formattedDate":"January 17, 2018","formattedExcerpt":"Episode 8, January 17, 2018 - If someone mentions quantum computing, and you find yourself outwardly nodding your head, but secretly shaking it, you\u2019re in good company: some of the world\u2019s smartest people admit they don\u2019t really understand it either. Fortunately, some of the world\u2019s&hellip;","locale":{"slug":"en_us","name":"English","native":"","english":"English"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454374"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487631,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454374\/revisions\/487631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-region?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-event-type?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-promo-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-promo-type?post=454374"},{"taxonomy":"msr-podcast-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-podcast-series?post=454374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}