UK-based quantum computer company Quantinuum claims to have used fault-tolerant logic qubits for the first time. Scientists in Japan have used the trapped ion quantum computer to calculate the ground state energy of the hydrogen molecule. This could lead us into the era of early fault tolerance and out of the current noisy era of quantum computing, the company believes.
Current generation quantum computers are referred to by the acronym NISQ, which stands for Intermediate-Scale Quantum Noise. The process of creating and manipulating qubits generates noise and makes them prone to errors, and this applies to all types of qubits, from photonics to the trapped ion system used by Quantinuum. To resolve the issue, companies engage in software and hardware error mitigation, detection, and correction. With enough noisy physical qubits, fewer useful, noise-free logical qubits can be generated.
It’s that breakthrough, which involves fixing bugs faster than they might appear, that has led to the latest advance for Quantinuum. Researchers in Japan used the H1 quantum computer, significant error mitigation efforts, and three logic qubits to simulate a hydrogen atom and calculate its lowest energy state. While the actual simulation isn’t groundbreaking, it demonstrates the ability of qubit logic quantum computers to simulate chemical systems.
Dr. Raj Hazra, CEO of Quantinuum, said the breakthrough takes us towards the era of early fault tolerance in quantum computing. It was made possible thanks to the H1 quantum computer that brings together high fidelity gate operations, all-to-all connectivity and conditional logic, with the truly world-leading algorithms, methods and error handling techniques offered by our platform chemistry InQuanto, he explained.
Trapped ion quantum computers use single atoms suspended in space as qubits. Lasers are aimed at ions to manipulate and trap their quantum states, performing quantum logic operations. The H1 can currently trap up to 20 ytterbium ions with low error rates and, with further error detection and correction, can create logic qubits.
Quantinuum’s breakthrough in quantum chemistry research was done on its H1 quantum computer with three logic qubits. The company says this is an important first step towards a future where quantum computers could be used to advance molecular discovery in healthcare, energy, automotive and manufacturing industries.
Towards the fault-tolerant quantum age
Current devices are too error prone or noisy to achieve that level of disruption today, but major achievements in error mitigation and correction, which are making it easier to generate logic qubits, are moving that future closer.
Quantinuum Japanese scientists have used a process called stochastic quantum phase estimation that uses randomness to find and correct errors in physical qubits, transforming them into logical qubits. They ran error-correcting algorithms to simulate hydrogen atoms through logic qubits, creating more accurate and detailed results.
Content from our partners
In a preprint science paper, the team of scientists led by Dr. Kentaro Yamamoto used error-detecting code that saved quantum resources by reducing the physical qubits needed to create useful error-free logic qubits. The code saved quantum resources by immediately discarding a calculation if it found qubits that had produced errors during the calculation process, they explained. Simulating the hydrogen molecule and getting such good results with a first fault-tolerant algorithm on logic qubits is an excellent experimental achievement and reminds us how fast we keep progressing, he said.
Yamamoto added: This result may reflect the beginning of a new chapter for quantum computing professionals, where we can begin adopting the first fault-tolerant algorithms on short-term devices, using as many techniques as will eventually be needed. for future large-scale quantum algorithms. informatics.
This is a significant milestone for companies in the healthcare, manufacturing and energy sectors looking to modulate and create molecules and new materials. It shows the potential of quantum computing to accelerate the development or creation of materials that cannot be simulated on classical computers.
Both Google and IBM have shown hints of quantum supremacy over very specific computations, beating out even the best classical supercomputers by efforts in mitigation and error detection. Microsoft has also been drawing up plans for a quantum supercomputer in years not decades. Quantinuum says its new qubit logic algorithm will be available through its existing platform and to companies using its hardware.
Read more: Microsoft lays out the quantum supercomputing roadmap
#Quantinuum #builds #faulttolerant #logical #qubits
Image Source : techmonitor.ai