The most recent email you sent was likely encrypted using a tried-and-true method that relies on the idea that even the fastest computer would be unable to efficiently break a gigantic number into factors.
Quantum computers, on the other hand, promise to rapidly crack complex cryptographic systems that a classical computer might never be able to unravel. This promise is based on a quantum factoring algorithm proposed in 1994 by Peter Shor, who is now a professor at MIT.
But while researchers have taken great strides in the last 30 years, scientists have yet to build a quantum computer powerful enough to run Shor's algorithm.
As some researchers work to build larger quantum computers, others have been trying to improve Shor's algorithm so it could run on a smaller quantum circuit. About a year ago, New York University computer scientist Oded Regev proposed a major theoretical improvement. His algorithm could run faster, but the circuit would require more memory.
Building off those results, MIT researchers have proposed a best-of-both-worlds approach that combines the speed of Regev's algorithm with the memory-efficiency of Shor's. This new algorithm is as fast as Regev's, requires fewer quantum building blocks known as qubits, and has a higher tolerance to quantum noise, which could make it more feasible to implement in practice.
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