Category: quantum computing

IBM has ambitions to build a million-qubit quantum computer. To get there, it is building a fridge bigger than anything commercially available. 15 December 2020 

• IBM has set out a roadmap to develop larger qubit systems – from its current quantum computer of 64 qubits to a 1-million-qubit.
• To move to a million-plus qubit machine, IBM is developing a dilution refrigerator, which would be larger than any currently available commercially

Say GoldenEye and the 1995 James Bond movie comes to mind, not a giant refrigerator.

But that’s the name computing giant IBM has given to a new refrigeration system in development designed to house the world’s first 1-million-qubit quantum computer.

At 10 feet tall and six feet wide, GoldenEye will go to a temperature of around 15 milli-kelvins or -459 Fahrenheit – or colder than outer space. These are the temperatures required to slow down the movement of atoms, so qubits can hold value. 

Continue reading… “IBM ‘super-fridge’ aims to solve quantum computer cooling problem”

By Preetipadma

The trade war rivalry between USA and China is well known. However, since the past few years, both the nations are caught up in a heated tech race towards supremacy. This is also reflected with China putting its best to lead in terms of quantum computing power too.

Last year, Google grabbed headlines, when it announced Sycamore quantum computerhad achieved quantum advantage—formerly known as quantum supremacy. Sycamore could perform computation in 200 seconds that would take the fastest supercomputers about 10,000 years. Recently, China developed a quantum computing system which is reported to be 10 billion times faster than Google’s Sycamore. Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China explained that this quantum computer prototype named Jiuzhang delivered results in minutes calculated to take more than 2 billion years of effort by the world’s third-most-powerful supercomputer.

Continue reading… “CHINA CLAIMS BREAKTHROUGH IN QUANTUM COMPUTING RACE”

By Michael Irving

Researchers in China claim to have achieved quantum supremacy, the point where a quantum computer completes a task that would be virtually impossible for a classical computer to perform. The device, named Jiuzhang, reportedly conducted a calculation in 200 seconds that would take a regular supercomputer a staggering 2.5 billion years to complete.

Traditional computers process data as binary bits – either a zero or a one. Quantum computers, on the other hand, have a distinct advantage in that their bits can also be both a one and a zero at the same time. That raises the potential processing power exponentially, as two quantum bits (qubits) can be in four possible states, three qubits can be in eight states, and so on.

That means quantum computers can explore many possibilities simultaneously, while a classical computer would have to run through each option one after the other. Progress so far has seen quantum computers perform calculations much faster than traditional ones, but their ultimate test would be when they can do things that classical computers simply can’t. And that milestone has been dubbed “quantum supremacy.”

Continue reading… “Chinese quantum computer completes 2.5-billion-year task in minutes”

by Bob Yirka

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has built and tested a photonic quantum computer that demonstrates quantum supremacy. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their computer, which they call Jiuzhang, and how well it performed while conducting Gaussian boson sampling.

Quantum computers have been in the news lately as scientists try to determine if they can meet expectations.

Quantum computers could vastly outperform conventional machines on certain tasks. The goal is to achieve what has come to be known as” quantum supremacy”—where a quantum computer can outperform conventional computers on at least one type of task.

Until now, only one computer has ever achieved this feat—Google’s Sycamore device. And because the field is still so new, researchers around the world are working on vastly different designs. Sycamore was based on qubits represented by superconducting materials. In this new effort, the team in China has developed a photon-based quantum computer capable of carrying out a single specific type of calculation—boson sampling.

Continue reading… “Chinese photonic quantum computer demonstrates quantum supremacy”