"Quantum superiority is getting closer": IBM has developed a prototype of a 50-qubit quantum processorp

"Quantum superiority is getting closer": IBM has developed a prototype of a 50-qubit quantum processor

Over the past few years, IBM has made a lot of efforts to develop projects in the field of quantum computing. And these efforts of the blue giant were not in vain, it's enough to recall the IBM Quantum Experience (IBM Q) - the industry's first initiative to provide wide access to quantum computing. And last week, IBM announced new achievements that bring it closer to the cherished goal of releasing the first commercial quantum computer in the next five years.

Recall that it is with quantum computing, which is seen as the most likely substitute for traditional computing, that many people associate a possible revolution in computers. It is believed that such computers will help solve a number of global problems that today's supercomputers will not be decided ever. From the quantum computers D-Wave and other similar projects, IBM's development is advantageous in that it is suitable for universal computing. That is, IBM is building exactly the universal quantum computing system with the possibility of scaling, but we have already written about this, more than once.

When in May last year, IBM first opened to developers and scientists access to its own quantum computing platform IBM Quantum Experience through the cloud platform IBM Cloud, it was a system based on a processor consisting of five superconducting qubits. But a year later it was updated with a 16-kbit processor, which provided even more processing power for solving various tasks. In addition, for its commercial service of quantum computing, the company has prepared a 17-kilobit device with a very low error rate. And after just a few months, IBM is announcing the next update of the system - before the end of this year, the company's customers will be able to access a more powerful 20-Kbit processor. It is reported that it will make calculations with an industry-recordable coherence index of 90 microseconds possible, making it possible to carry out "high-precision quantum operations" This is the first achievement.

Second - IBM specialists managed to develop a 50-Kbit processor (photo below), but so far only in the form of a prototype. It is built on the same architecture as the 20-kbit commercial chip and should replace the latter somewhere in 2018, the company does not specify a more exact date. But IBM says that over the past time, approximately 60,000 users have managed to conduct more than 1.7 million experiments using the IBM Quantum Experience, which resulted in the writing of 35 scientific papers.

Note that in addition to IBM, a number of technology companies are engaged in the creation of a quantum computer, including Google, Intel and Rigetti. Google researchers previously promised a 50-qubit universal quantum computer by the end of 2017, noting that the demonstration of so-called quantum superiority is possible only after coming out on configurations containing a minimum of 50 qubits. In fact, this achievement will mean the creation of a quantum computer, the work of which can not be emulated on any of the supercomputers from the TOP500 rating. The technology is extremely complex, so there are no special hopes for food, but there is a very high probability that this significant milestone will be taken in the next year or two.

Source: IBM and Engadget