Quantum Everything Explained - EP 81 Prineha Narang

Prineha Narang is one of the rising stars of science and the field of quantum technology.

She earned her PhD in applied physics at Caltech, taught materials science at Harvard and now has her own lab at UCLA. The lab focuses on quantum materials, non-equilibrium dynamics, photonics, quantum information science and other easily digestible areas. Beyond her academic career, Narang is a science advisor to the government and a venture capitalist at DCVC.

As you might imagine, we get into quantum computing and quantum technology in this episode. Quantum vs. AI, the US vs. China, when quantum tech will break encryption, quantum sensing and whether or not quantum technology actually has a bright future. The quantum sensing portion of the chat was all new to me and rather astonishing.

Since Narang is also a competitive runner and mountaineer, we provide some top tips on gear because that is just the kind of all-purpose podcast that we deliver.

And, if you can’t get enough quantum computing, come check out our video episode on PsiQuantum building the largest quantum machine in history.

Enjoy!

OUR SPONSORS

SendCutSend

You know who else makes stuff for America? That would be SendCutSend. If you want to celebrate our great nation by building a metal part, then head on over to SendCutSend where you’ll get a 15 percent discount thanks to Core Memory on whatever you’re trying to build. We believe in you!

Brex

The Core Memory podcast is also sponsored by Brex, the intelligent finance platform built to help companies spend smarter and move faster.

Did we go to Texas, find a telescope ranch and then obtain an entire nebula in Brex’s honor? Oh yes, we did.

We run on Brex and so should you. Learn more about Brex right here.

Narang Lab at UCLA:

https://naranglab.ucla.edu

DCVC:

https://www.dcvc.com

Oratomic (the Caltech neutral atom spinout):

https://www.oratomic.com

Atom Computing:

https://atom-computing.com

Mesa Quantum:

https://mesaquantum.com

Google's work on the cost of quantum factoring: https://blog.google/security/tracking...NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography: https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/post-q...DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative: https://www.darpa.mil/research/progra...Hyperlite Mountain Gear (the Dyneema packs Prineha swears by):

https://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com

Timestamps (they link out to YouTube)

00:00 Intro02:17 The Physicist Who Almost Became a Pro Runner13:39 A Cold Email, a Full Ride, and the Road to Caltech26:15 How Video Game Chips Quietly Took Over Science31:56 Is Quantum Losing the Spotlight to AI?40:50 "I Still Don't Believe in Quantum": Answering the Skeptics46:28 The Google Result That Could Break Encryption53:44 Is It Time to Panic About Q-Day?1:06:48 Quantum Sensing and the Case of Who Sneezed1:17:30 Does Consciousness Run on Quantum Rules?1:22:28 The Advice She Gives Terrified Students1:30:20 So When Does Quantum Actually Get Real?