Chuck Brooks is the president of Brooks Consulting International and one of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Experts.
There are moments in technological development when an incremental improvement becomes something much larger change in the underlying architecture of how we compute, communicate, sense and control the world around us.
Quantum technology may be approaching such a moment. Much of the public discussion surrounding quantum computing has focused on qubit counts, quantum processors, error correction and the race toward fault-tolerant machines. Those developments remain critically important. But there is another dimension of the quantum revolution that deserves greater attention: the use of waves, quantum-state propagation, photonics, resonance and hybrid control as alternative ways of processing information. I refer to this broader direction as the emerging Quantum Wave paradigm.
The concept is not entirely new. Decades ago, researchers Wolf Kohn and Anil Nerode explored a Quantum Wave Processor based on quantum-state propagation as a computational paradigm. Their work proposed a programmable device, the Quantum Function Evaluator—that would use the dynamics of quantum states to perform computational operations. Their research also explored hybrid systems and feedback control, concepts that have become increasingly relevant as today’s quantum systems move toward more sophisticated control architectures.
What is different today is the technological environment. We now have advanced photonics, AI, quantum processors, high-performance computing, nanofabrication, optical communications, sophisticated control systems and increasingly powerful simulation tools. These technologies create an ecosystem in which ideas that were extraordinarily difficult to implement decades ago can be revisited with entirely different engineering capabilities.
The question is therefore no longer simply whether quantum computers will become powerful. The larger question is whether quantum waves, photons, quantum states and hybrid architectures can become a new computational substrate for the emerging technology era.
As quantum wave architectures emerge as a national security frontier for sensing, communications and secure computing, the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24 will feature a dedicated panel on agentic AI and quantum risk in classified environments. Save your seat now!
From Quantum Bits to Quantum Waves
Conventional digital computing is based fundamentally on manipulating bits. Quantum computing introduces qubits, which exploit properties such as superposition and entanglement.
A wave-oriented approach begins from a somewhat different perspective. Instead of treating quantum information primarily as discrete qubit states that must be manipulated through sequences of gates, wave-based approaches can exploit the physical evolution, interference, propagation, resonance and transformation of quantum states. That distinction could become consequential.
Nature itself performs enormous amounts of computation through physical processes. Waves interfere. Systems resonate. Particles propagate. Complex interactions produce patterns. The challenge for engineers is to harness those physical processes as controllable computational resources.
This is one reason photonics are attracting so much attention. Photons can carry information at extremely high speeds, travel long distances with low loss and interact naturally with optical components. Photonic architectures can potentially reduce some of the thermal and connectivity constraints associated with conventional electronic systems.
The objective is not necessarily to replace conventional quantum computers. It may be to expand the definition of quantum computing. The future could contain superconducting quantum processors, trapped-ion systems, neutral atoms, silicon spin qubits, photonic quantum computers, quantum sensors, quantum networks and hybrid systems operating alongside conventional CPUs and GPUs. Quantum Wave Theory fits naturally into this emerging pluralistic computing ecosystem.
A Second Look at Wolf Kohn’s Vision
The work of Wolf Kohn and Anil Nerode is particularly interesting because it anticipated a concept that is becoming increasingly relevant today: computation as a controlled physical process.
Their Quantum Wave Processor Research Report proposed quantum state propagation as a computational paradigm and described a programmable architecture designed to evaluate functions through quantum-state dynamics. The research grew partly out of earlier work in hybrid systems theory and control laws.
That is significant because today’s quantum challenge is not merely building more qubits. It is controlling them. Quantum systems are extraordinarily sensitive to noise, environmental interactions, temperature, electromagnetic interference, imperfect gates and measurement. Consequently, quantum engineering increasingly resembles a control problem as much as a computing problem.
Kohn’s earlier work on hybrid quantum control is therefore relevant to today’s emerging architecture. His research examined feedback mechanisms designed to improve control, reduce dissipation, and improve coherence in quantum systems. In other words, an important lesson from the earlier generation of quantum research may be that the future of quantum computing depends as much on control and system architecture as on the raw number of qubits. That insight is increasingly validated by current research.
The Photonic Wave Opportunity
Nadab Akhtar’s work provides an interesting contemporary bridge between these earlier concepts and emerging commercial architectures. Akhtar is the co-founder and CEO of Project LightShift, which is described by the Milken Institute as commercializing a room-temperature quantum photonic wave processor based on research supported by multi-year U.S. Department of Defense funding. The company is pursuing an architecture based on photonic wave processing rather than relying exclusively on conventional cryogenic quantum-computing approaches.
This is important because one of the fundamental challenges facing quantum computing is scalability. Many quantum architectures require extremely demanding environments. Cryogenic cooling, sophisticated control electronics, error correction, isolation and highly specialized manufacturing all contribute to complexity.
Photonic approaches potentially offer a different pathway. Light can carry information rapidly, photonic components can potentially be manufactured using semiconductor-style processes and optical systems can naturally interface with telecommunications infrastructure. The direction is strategically significant. It suggests that the quantum future may not be defined by a single winning architecture. Instead, we may see a Cambrian explosion of quantum architectures, with different technologies optimized for different problems.
The Quantum Wave Is Already Prevalent in Research & Development
This is not simply a theoretical discussion. In August 2026, researchers at NIST published work on a quantum wave atom transformation, demonstrating an efficient quantum implementation of wavelet and wave-atom transformations. The researchers report that their approach can represent a larger class of tree structures while achieving polynomial gate complexity for transformations that require exponentially more floating-point operations in conventional implementations. They suggest the technique could eventually contribute to quantum algorithms for solving wave equations. Quantum information is increasingly becoming a field of waves, materials, photonics, mechanics, control systems and information processing—not simply qubits inside refrigerators.
Quantum Wave Theory Meets AI
The most interesting possibility may be the convergence of quantum wave architectures with artificial intelligence. I have argued in my recent writing that the emerging technology era will be defined less by individual technologies than by their convergence. AI, quantum computing, photonics, robotics, advanced batteries, biological computing, neuromorphic systems and high-performance computing are beginning to form a broader technological ecosystem. Quantum Wave approaches could become part of this ecosystem.
AI is exceptionally good at recognizing patterns, optimizing parameters, discovering relationships and controlling complex systems. Quantum and photonic systems, meanwhile, can potentially perform certain transformations and optimization tasks through physical processes that are extremely difficult to reproduce efficiently in conventional architectures.
The combination could produce powerful feedback loops. AI could optimize quantum circuits. Quantum systems could accelerate selected optimization problems. Photonic processors could perform high-speed transformations. Classical computers could orchestrate the entire system. The result would not be a “quantum computer” operating in isolation. It would be a heterogeneous intelligence architecture. That is consistent with what I have described as the emerging computing ecosystem: future computing will increasingly combine classical, quantum, photonic, biological, neuromorphic and AI-based systems according to the problem being solved.
Quantum Waves & National Security
The national-security implications extend well beyond encryption. Quantum sensors could provide extremely precise measurements of gravity, magnetic fields, time, acceleration and other physical phenomena. That could transform navigation into GPS-denied environments.
Quantum sensing could potentially improve submarine detection, geolocation, geological mapping, infrastructure monitoring and intelligence collection. Quantum and photonic computing could also affect logistics, optimization, intelligence analysis, materials discovery, communications and autonomous systems.
The convergence with space may be particularly important. I recently wrote about the exponential technology moment occurring in space and the need to secure the increasingly digital space ecosystem. Space systems generate enormous quantities of data and increasingly depend on AI, cloud computing, optical communications, autonomous systems and sophisticated sensors. Quantum sensors could eventually provide new navigation and sensing capabilities for spacecraft. Photonic computing could enable high-speed processing at the edge.
Quantum communications could potentially create new secure networking architectures. And quantum-enhanced optimization could help with orbital logistics, satellite constellation management and mission planning. The strategic implications are substantial.
Quantum Wave Theory in Action
One of the most intriguing efforts to translate these concepts from theory into an emerging defense technology is being pursued by Quantum Cyber, which is integrating technology licensed from Project LightShift into advanced autonomous drone systems. The technology was invented by physicist Wolf Kohn, whose earlier research explored quantum-dot light-harvesting architectures using deterministic phase control. That research examined how quantum dots and feedback mechanisms could improve the capture and synchronization of light. Today, that conceptual lineage is being extended into a much broader photonic architecture.
Quantum Cyber’s recently unveiled Quantum Photonic Antenna is designed to capture and organize light across infrared, visible, ultraviolet wavelengths and, according to the company’s technical white paper, potentially use that energy for harvesting, sensing, optical communications and navigation. The architecture is also designed around multiphoton signaling and phase control, illustrating how the physical behavior of light itself could become part of the computational and communications architecture of an autonomous machine.
The drone application is particularly interesting because it brings Quantum Wave concepts into one of the most demanding environments for emerging technology: a contested electromagnetic battlefield. Quantum Cyber says its exclusive license from Project LightShift covers unmanned aerial vehicles and defense applications, with a roadmap that includes photolithography and controlled dot deposition, validation of phase control, transmitter-receiver demonstrations, frequency-diverse communications testing, environmental validation and ultimately an integrated drone prototype. The potential applications are significant. A drone equipped with a thin, conformal photonic system could potentially harvest portions of the electromagnetic spectrum for supplemental energy, perform multispectral sensing, support optical or multiphoton communications and improve navigation when GPS is degraded or denied. The company also envisions extending the architecture into satellite and space-based optical communications.
What makes this especially compelling from a security perspective is that the technology could eventually shift some capabilities from the cloud and traditional RF infrastructure toward the physical edge of the autonomous platform itself. A drone that can sense, communicate, navigate and process information with less dependence on vulnerable external infrastructure could be considerably more resilient in a contested environment.
Quantum Cyber has described its broader platform as combining AI, quantum-computing principles, autonomous systems and quantum-enabled communications for one-to-many operations. The result illustrates the larger point of Quantum Wave Theory: the next generation of intelligent machines may not simply compute information electronically; they may increasingly capture, manipulate, transmit and derive information directly from the physical behavior of waves and quantum phenomena.
The New Computing Stack
We are moving toward a computing stack that looks very different from the one that dominated the past several decades. At the bottom will remain classical silicon. Above it will be GPUs, specialized accelerators and high-performance computing. Alongside them quantum processors, photonic processors, neuromorphic systems, biological computing and other specialized architectures will emerge.
AI will increasingly serve as the orchestration and intelligence layer connecting them. The cloud will become the access layer. And quantum networking and advanced communications may ultimately connect these heterogeneous systems across geographic distances. In this architecture, Quantum Wave Theory could become less a singular technology than a design philosophy for exploiting physical wave phenomena as computational resources. That is where its greatest potential lies.
The Strategic Question
The important question is not whether one particular Quantum Wave architecture will become dominant. The more important question is whether we are entering an era in which computation itself becomes increasingly physical, heterogeneous, adaptive and distributed. If that happens, the consequences will extend far beyond quantum computing.
AI could become the intelligence layer. Photonics could become the high-speed information layer. Quantum systems could become specialized acceleration and sensing layers. Neuromorphic systems could provide energy-efficient cognition. Biological and chemical systems could process information in entirely different ways. Classical computing would remain the backbone connecting them. That is the emerging technology era.
Preparing for the Quantum Wave
The organizations and governments that prepare successfully will not wait for a single breakthrough announcement. They will begin building the ecosystem now. And they will establish governance frameworks capable of addressing technologies that may have both extraordinary benefits and extraordinary security consequences.
The United States has a strong foundation from which to do this. Federal quantum initiatives, university research, national laboratories, private investment, defense programs and commercial quantum companies are creating an increasingly sophisticated ecosystem. The challenge is connecting these efforts into a coherent national innovation strategy.
The Next Era
We have spent the past several decades building an information society around silicon and digital bits. The next era may be built around something more fundamental: information as a physical phenomenon. Quantum states, photons, waves, materials, biological processes and electromagnetic interactions may increasingly become computational resources.
The early work of researchers such as Wolf Kohn and Anil Nerode reminds us that many of these ideas are not new. What has changed is our ability to engineer them. Today’s photonic and quantum researchers are revisiting questions that earlier generations could only partially address. AI is giving us new tools to control and optimize complex systems. Advanced manufacturing is making novel architectures more feasible. And quantum research is moving steadily from theoretical physics toward engineering and commercialization.
That is why I believe the Quantum Wave deserves special attention. it could become part of a much larger transformation in how humanity computes, communicates, senses and secures information. The quantum era is already emerging. The next wave may be the moment when we begin to harness not only the quantum bit, but the quantum wave itself.
And as with every technological revolution, the nations and organizations that understand the technology early, build the ecosystem around it and secure it from the beginning will be best positioned to shape what comes next.
