Scientists based at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing on Caltech's campus have made a leap forward in figuring out how to suppress errors in quantum computers, a pesky problem that continues to be the greatest hurdle to building the machines of the future.
Quantum computers, which are based on the seemingly magical properties of the quantum realm, hold promise for use in many different fields, including medicine, materials science, cryptography, and fundamental physics. But while today's quantum computers can be useful for studying niche areas of physics, a general-purpose quantum computer capable of solving more advanced problems is not yet possible due to its inherent sensitivity to noise. Vibrations, heat, electromagnetic interference from cell phones and Wi-Fi networks, or even cosmic rays and radiation from outer space, can all knock qubits -- quantum bits -- out of their quantum state. As a result, quantum computers make a lot more errors than their classical computer counterparts.
Reporting in the February 26 issue of the journal Nature, a team of scientists from AWS and Caltech demonstrate a new quantum chip architecture for suppressing errors using a type of qubit known as a cat qubit. Cat qubits were first proposed in 2001, and, since then, researchers have developed and refined them. Now, the AWS team has put together the first scalable cat qubit chip that can be used to efficiently reduce quantum errors. Called Ocelot, the new quantum computing chip is named after the spotted wild cat, while also giving a nod to internal "oscillator" technology that underlies the cat qubits.
"For quantum computers to be successful, we need error rates to be about a billion times better than they are today," says Oskar Painter (PhD '01), John G Braun Professor of Applied Physics and Physics at Caltech and head of quantum hardware at AWS. "Error rates have been going down about a factor of two every two years. At this rate, it would take us 70 years to get to where we need to be. Instead, we are developing a new chip architecture that may be able to get us there faster. That said, this is an early building block. We still have a lot of work to do."
To read more, click here.