Researchers from the world’s best university and corporate labs are constantly racing to create the first practical and usable computer. Quantum computers (using quantum bits, or qubits) are able to execute calculations that are impossible for existing technology. They promise to open up new possibilities in areas such as medical research, Artificial Intelligence and security.
But how close are quantum computers in becoming a reality and making the encryption that is now known obsolete?
IBM Quantum Experience
In March, IBM announced the launch of a commercial line of quantum computers for businesses and laboratories, called “IBM Q”, and that researchers and external developers could already start running simulations on it.
IBM Quantum Experience (IBM Q) allows anyone to connect to the IBM quantum processor through IBM Cloud, run algorithms and experiments, work with individual quantum bits, and explore tutorials and simulations on what might be possible with quantum computing.
“IBM has invested for decades in the growth of the field of quantum computing and we are committed to expanding access to quantum systems and their powerful capabilities for the scientific and business communities,” said Arvind Krishna, senior vice president of Hybrid Cloud and director of IBM Research. “In the wake of Watson and blockchain, we believe that quantum computing will provide a set of powerful services delivered through the IBM Cloud platform, and promises to be the next major technology that has the potential to drive a new era of innovation among industries.”
In May, IBM announced that it had built its most speaker universal quantum processor to date. This was a 17-qubit prototitpo, and will be the basis for the first commercial quantum computing systems they will offer as part of the IBM Q program
Google and your quantum computer
Shortly thereafter, in June, Google raised IBM’s bet by announcing that it had a 20 qubit system and that its plans are the construction of what to date was believed to be the most powerful quantum computer in the world, with a 49 qubit chip , by the end of the year. Alan Ho, an engineer at Google’s quantum AI lab, revealed the company’s progress at a quantum computing conference in Munich, Germany.
The development of this computer is already underway, so in Google’s most recent plans is to set a strategy to start marketing it.
For years, Google has spent a lot of time and money making one of the most ambitious dreams of modern technology come true: building a quantum working computer. Now the company is thinking about how to turn the project into a business.
Google has been offering access to its quantum machines over the internet in recent months, science labs and Artificial Intelligence researchers. According to Bloomberg, the goal was to stimulate the development of tools and applications for technology and ultimately turn it into a faster and more powerful cloud computing service.
For now, according to Bloomberg, Google’s quantum hardware includes a kind of embryonic quantum data center and the open source ProjectQ project, for developers to write code for quantum computers.
“They are so open that they are building quantum hardware and at some point in the future they will turn it into a cloud service,” said Peter McMahon, a quantum computing researcher at Stanford University.
The world’s most powerful quantum computer
But Google’s 49-cent quantum computer has been unseated, most recently, by the creation of a 51-qubit quantum computer by Mikhail Lukin, a Harvard physicist, a former student at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and co-founder of the Center Russian Quantum Physics; which makes it the most powerful computer in the world to date.
In order to do so, Lukin explained that “we use qubits based on cold atoms that “hold” in the air thanks to the action of a kind of “optical clamps”. These are nothing but laser beams arranged in a special way to cool these atoms thanks to the energetic power with which they are “hit”. In this way, you can obtain a set of cold atoms that, through their quantum interactions, are able to solve operations. This is the qubits, the processing units of a quantum computer.”
Lukin and his team have demonstrated the power of this system by solving operations that define the behavior of numerous linked particles, something that is almost impossible to solve by today’s computers.
On the other hand, this computer has been able to predict physical effects that were unknown until now, which contributes to a better understanding of the linked particles.
Moving quickly
These systems are able to solve problems that traditional computers cannot fix. The technology remains unpredictable and unstable, and its commercialization is still quite far away. However, Google’s nascent efforts to commercialize it, and similar steps by IBM, are opening up a new phase of competition in the growing cloud market.
“Things have really moved much faster than I expected,” says Simon Devitt at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. “Now that Google and other companies involved in quantum computing have mastered much of the fundamental science behind the creation of high-quality superconducting qubits, the big challenge these companies face is to scale these systems and reduce their error rates.”
