Quantum is taking the leap.
Six years after Google announced it had reached quantum supremacy—that their quantum computer had performed a calculation a regular computer could not—the technology continues to push boundaries.
Classical computing relies on bits (which can be either a 1 or 0) and classical computations involve a single input, algorithm, and output. Quantum computing relies on “qubits,” which exist not only as ones and zeros but in a “superposition” state in-between, allowing quantum computers to analyze multiple solutions and outputs simultaneously. The technology has promise in the encryption space as well as simulations and research applications.
Google’s quantum supremacy was achieved through random circuit sampling, a complicated technical breakthrough that involves registering the output of a set of qubits. This sampling requires a level of processing power that’s not possible with standard computers, even powerful ones. Sergio Boixo, Google’s director of quantum computing, told IT Brew that the discovery was a watershed moment akin to the Wright brothers first taking flight.
“It was the first demonstration that there is a new, different paradigm of computation that allows you to do some things which are practically impossible for classical, traditional computers,” Boixo said. “It was not a commercial application yet, that’s still part of the journey.”
Before Google’s paper came out asserting the success of quantum supremacy, the idea of quantum computing’s viability was still being debated (IBM, which is also a big player in the quantum computing space, is still skeptical), superconducting quantum integrated circuit firm Rigetti Computing CEO Subodh Kulkarni told IT Brew. Now it’s no longer a question of if quantum computers will eventually become commercially viable, but when.
“Almost all of us in the quantum computing field are absolutely convinced,” Kulkarni said. “But even the skeptics who always thought this was something of the future and never really going to materialize, I think, can concur with us that this is going to happen.”
Different strokes. Timing is everything, and not everyone is going to agree on the watershed moments. Quantum computing has been in the works for decades. IBM Quantum CTO Oliver Dial is enthusiastic about the overall possibilities of the quantum community, but he points to a slightly earlier mark than Google’s quantum supremacy as key to the technology’s evolution. Back in 2016, IBM Quantum Experience’s cloud quantum processors opened the algorithms underlying the technology to a larger group of researchers, he said, which created an opportunity for anyone in the world to use the quantum hardware for research.
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“It’s not so much the democratization of this research, although that’s part of what it did, but it’s really kind of making that step from, ‘Were building toys for us to play with ourselves,’ to where we are creating a tool for other people to use and do research with,” Dial said. “So, to me, 2016 is the watershed moment.”
One challenge faced by quantum computers is how to cool the hardware. Dial told IT Brew that IBM bases its quantum computers on supercomputing qubits, which can only operate at low temperatures. The devices are cooled to 0.02 degrees Kelvin above absolute zero, which Dial said is “colder than deep space.” While effective for quantum computers, it’s not a commercially viable technology.
“That is absolutely not something you want in your desktop,” Dial said. “It’s noisy, it’s loud, it’s maintenance-intensive. It belongs in a facility like a data center where we can give it the care and attention that it needs.”
User questions. Quantum processors currently provide physicists and other scientists with the tools to do big research projects that simply aren’t realistic with other computers. That’s the main use of the technology for now, Boixo said, but as things continue to move forward, the pool of who will use quantum computers will grow.
Of course, it’s not just scientists trying to uncover the limits of quantum technology who are using the computers. Marc Lijour, a researcher with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, told IT Brew that attackers are interested in how quantum computers can potentially crack encryption much faster than traditional computers. They’re probably already playing with the technology, and waiting until the computers are widely available.
“Attackers…are downloading everything they can at the moment and storing it, basically copying the internet and anything they can so they can open it later [using quantum technology],” Lijour said.
That’s still a ways in the future. Boixo estimated chaining together 50–100 logical qubits is about five or so years away. With a number of firms looking at developing the next level of quantum computing, it’s a race. But the real adversary isn’t another company, it’s the limitations of material reality.
“There are, indeed, substantial, fundamental challenges to overcome,” Boixio said. “There is a broad community in quantum computing, there’s a lot of research that gets published by academia, but also industry groups, including ourselves and others. So, the whole field is sort of marching forward, and we’re still competing mostly against nature.”