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Quantum Computers: State of Play

Writer's picture: Mishkat BhattacharyaMishkat Bhattacharya

This post addresses the ongoing buzz about quantum computers.


In 2012 John Preskill at CalTech coined the term quantum supremacy, which indicates the stage of development at which quantum computers would outperform classical computers. Since our existence is already heavily dependent on computing, these quantum computers would be expected to revolutionize life.


How far have we come along that track? Are quantum computers 'supreme' enough to be commercial already? Who is making them? Who is buying them? Below I will cover some recent developments, in the context of the recent book Quantum Supremacy by Michio Kaku.


Samples of Supremacy


2019: Google's Sycamore quantum computer solved in 200 seconds a problem that would take a classical computer 10,000 years.


2020: Quantum Innovation Institute at the Chinese Academy of Sciences ran a quantum computer 100 trillion times faster than the best existing classical computer.


However, since classical computers are improving all the time, it is not clear how permanent these records of quantum supremacy - there are others as well - will be.


Some Makers of Quantum Computers


i) D-Wave - The first company to sell a quantum computer.

i) Quantinuum (Honeywell + Cambridge Quantum) - they use trapped ions to make their commercial quantum computers.

iii) IonQ - The first quantum computing company to go public. It sells time on its trapped ion quantum computer, which can be accessed remotely.

iv) IBM - has a commercial product. A version is for free use online.

v) Google - here's a nice video tour of their facility. They have made (e.g. the Sycamore), but not yet commercialized, quantum computers. Their favored architecture is superconducting qubits.

vi) Microsoft - Its homegrown effort (based on topological circuits, for those who know what they are) is coming along.

vii) Intel is making quantum processors.


Some Buyers of/Investors in Quantum Computers


i) Cybersecurity: The CIA and likely the NSA are interested. (I worked in the superconducting quantum computing group at the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, which is partly NSA-driven. I did not do any classified work).


Essentially the planet's economy, since it uses digital technology as a platform, is vulnerable to a quantum computer. A milestone to watch out for: Kaku's book says NIST has announced that by 2029 quantum computers will be able to break all existing cryptosystems. This will make, for example, credit card usage insecure. The Department of Homeland Security has come up with a roadmap to address this projected development.


ii) Banking: JP Morgan has an in-house effort for using quantum computing for its banking business.


iii) Transportation: BMW and Mercedes-Benz are using quantum computers to solve problems in automotive technologies etc.


iv) Oil and gas: Shell, Exxon Mobil, and BP are looking at quantum computing to solve chemistry-related problems.


v) Pharmaceuticals: Biogen and Merck are investing in quantum computing for drug discovery.


vi) Medicine: The Cleveland Clinic has had an IBM quantum computer installed.


Some but not all of the information above is provided in Kaku's book. On the other hand, he discusses many topics in detail that I have not mentioned here. I found the book provided accessible and up-to-date summaries of a wide number of topics, such as cancer research, pandemics, photosynthesis, lithium-ion batteries, nuclear fusion, global warming, exoplanets, etc.


Kaku's general idea seems to be that in each of these areas we are/will be at a computational bottleneck as the data/possibilities become very large. This is where classical computers stumble and quantum computers are likely to be of use.


The parts I found the most enjoyable to read were


i) the treatment of aging and immortality (Chapter 13)

ii) a fantasy about life in 2050 when quantum computers would have (hopefully) solved many of our current problems (Chapter 17), and

iii) a discussion on whether the universe itself is a quantum computer (the last three pages of the book) - no spoilers!


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