Quantum Computer – Most Powerful
According to New Scientist, a group of Chinese researchers has constructed what they believe to be the world’s most powerful quantum computer, marking the latest in a succession of interesting quantum computing developments. According to a paper posted to arXiv, the quantum computer was able to solve a problem using 56 of its 66 qubits (quantum equivalents of bits in a normal computer), shattering Google’s previous record.
Beats Google’s 54-qubit
Previously, Google’s 54-qubit Sycamore processor was the first to achieve quantum supremacy, which is the moment at which quantum computers can solve problems that conventional computers can’t. Sycamore ran a calculation that would have taken 10,000 years on the world’s most powerful supercomputer in 200 seconds. although Google has new plans.
The Chinese team, led by Jian-Wei Pan of the University of Science and Technology of China, outperformed Google in demonstrating the capabilities of its quantum processor. Zuchongzhi is a 2D programmable computer that can operate up to 66 qubits at once. This means it can encode quantum information (a single electron’s quantum state) using 66 quantum bits.
8 years problem solved in 1 Hour
According to the researchers, Zuchongzhi solved a problem in little over an hour that would have taken eight years for the world’s most powerful traditional supercomputer to solve.
“We predict that the sampling task completed by Zuchongzhi in roughly 1.2 hours [or 70 minutes] will take at least eight years for the most powerful supercomputer,” the researchers noted in the report. “The classical simulation of this task is predicted to be 2-3 orders of magnitude more expensive than prior work on the 53-qubit Sycamore processor.”
Quantum Computer at its Best
The problem the computer was addressing, according to the scientists, was 100 times more difficult than the one handled by Google’s Sycamore.
“In a reasonable length of time, our work establishes an unambiguous quantum computational advantage that is infeasible for classical computation. The customizable and high-precision quantum computing platform provides up new possibilities for investigating novel many-body phenomena and implementing complicated quantum algorithms.”