After coming out of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, Academician Liu felt as if he was sleepwalking, and his head was in chaos.

After the physical demonstration, Lu Zhou then explained to the experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences the application of topological quantum theory in model insulators, and how he realized Majorana fermions through some basic carbon-based integrated circuit components and Josephson junctions.

Objectively speaking, it is difficult to understand that he is engaged in applied research and understands the complexity of physical and mathematical formulas.

But the good thing is that although the formula accounts for more than 70% of the part, there are dynamic graphics as a demonstration, so that they don't understand the mystery at all.

It's just that after listening to this "unique" class, he feels that the worldview he has spent decades building has been almost completely refreshed.

It took less than 1 second to disassemble the product of more than 1024 prime numbers, which at least shows that the calculator in his hand has at least 500 qubits.

But that's not all, it's just the palm size of a quantum computer! I don't know how many times smaller than the size of the quantum computer in the Chinese Academy of Sciences!

And if you compare them side-by-side, the best result they achieve is only 20 qubits......

That's it, it's the latest achievement this year.

In addition, compared to the box-sized quantum computer, what shocked him even more was Academician Lu himself, who stood on the stage and explained these theories to them.

Mathematics, Physics, Materials, and Integrated Circuit Design...... If it is divided into more details, the knowledge points covered in this class can even be subdivided into more than a dozen subject branches.

However, for the young man who was not yet thirty years old, those profound and obscure knowledge seemed to be at his fingertips, and there was no obstacle to using them.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have been able to believe that there really were people in this world who could be so good.

Perhaps, that's why he's been able to tackle one world-class problem after another......

Sitting in the car parked at the entrance of the research institute, Academician Liu suddenly sighed with emotion.

"I feel...... Maybe I need to go back to school and re-enhance. ”

Director Li's expression was quite calm.

After all, surprise is surprise, and that's only for the technology itself, and as for those esoteric theories, he can't understand them anyway, so he doesn't take it to heart at all.

Looking at Academician Liu, who had a melancholy face, he comforted him with a sigh of relief.

“…… After all, it's Academician Lu, and his class is really difficult to understand, so don't take it too seriously. I'm sure you don't understand it, even if other people come here and sit here. ”

"It's not a question of whether or not to go to my heart," Academician Liu shook his head and said, "It's just that sometimes I really feel that I can't keep up with this era anymore." ”

"Although the topic of topological quantum computing is relatively new, there are people in our institute who are working on it, and the target is Microsoft's Majorana fermion project. However, whether it is Academician Pan's project, or our project that benchmarks against Microsoft, or Microsoft's own ...... Qubits have never been around twenty or thirty. ”

As soon as he heard this, Director Li couldn't bother to comfort him, and hurriedly asked.

"So how much has Professor Lu done?"

Academician Liu: "I forgot to ask how much, but judging from the display just now...... At least 500 is there. ”

500……

That's an order of magnitude higher!

There was silence in the carriage for a long time.

After a long while, Director Li came back to his senses and sighed faintly.

“…… It's scary. ”

……

If we talk about the importance of the technology itself, there is no doubt that the importance of the quantum computer is far greater than the carbon-based chip itself.

It is not an exaggeration to say that it can even be compared to controlled fusion technology.

According to the accepted view, the three pillars of modern science and technology are energy, information, and materials, and quantum computers have basically stood at the apex of this century's fantasy of future information technology, and hope to reach it.

And it's not just that.

The most important thing is that traditional encryption methods are like stripped naked in front of quantum computers, and there is no defense at all.

This is also the scariest thing about this technology.

As we all know, not only IT and finance, but also more than ninety percent of the security of modern information networks rely on asymmetric public key encryption, and the most widely used is the RSA encryption algorithm.

Since there is no fixed formula for factoring the product of large prime numbers, and there is only a unique solution, in principle, as long as the product of the prime number used is large enough, then it is basically equivalent to no solution, and even if Professor Lu calculates it, it is impossible to calculate it in his lifetime.

However, in the face of quantum computers, this kind of problem, which takes hundreds of years to solve for traditional computers, can be solved in a few seconds or even less than a second.

Even one might argue that asymmetric public-key cryptography is not only RSA, but also discrete logarithm-based schemes such as elliptic curve cryptography, Elgamal cryptography, and so on......

But what is the computing power of a quantum computer?

I'm afraid it's not even troublesome.

After returning home in the evening, Lu Zhou, who was sitting at the desk, thought for a long time, and finally took out a piece of letter paper and wrote on it with a pen.

【

…… The changes brought about by quantum computers in the field of communication technology will be disruptive.

For a long time, the encryption and decryption methods of communication technology have been in a state of dynamic equilibrium development, but now the breakthrough of topological quantum computing technology has broken the balance between attack and defense.

It only takes a few seconds to decrypt a problem with traditional asymmetric public-key cryptography.

Once this technology is popularized, it will bring great development to our society, but it will also bring huge security risks.

It is imperative that we establish a more rigorous and reliable encryption algorithm as a replacement for the original encryption method.

A quantum encryption algorithm similar to the BB84 protocol is a good choice, but it will still be powerless in the face of a quantum computer with more than 1000 qubits.

In my opinion, quantum computer technology with more than 1,000 qubits can be broken through in a short period of time.

Therefore, this new cryptographic rule must be more reliable than the bb48 protocol, and even surpass its improved version, BBM92.

Once this new encryption technology is mastered, it is the best time to advance the commercialization of quantum computers.

And then we will have an advantage in information technology that other countries cannot match.

Just like the advantages that controlled fusion technology has established for us in the field of energy.

】

Stopping writing, Lu Zhou found an envelope from the drawer, stuffed the letter into it, and threw it on the corner of the table.

When he goes to Jinda tomorrow, he will throw it to Wang Peng and ask him to find someone to send him to Chang'an Avenue in Beijing.

Although he felt that even if he didn't say anything, Director Li would definitely report to the higher-ups, but on this kind of issue, sometimes the opinions of experts would be more effective and more likely to attract the attention of the higher-ups.

Although these things are not something that a scholar needs to worry about, if he can, Lu Zhou still hopes that his research results can bring some positive impact to the world, rather than pushing it in a bad direction.

Although this may not be as exciting as doing research itself.

But it's also part of the fun.