The reality of quantum computing might only be in three years – TechCrunch

Quantum The computer is out of the realm of theoretical physics and the real world, but its potential and its promises are still far away.

Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF, a powerhouse in the world of quantum research and a young novice in the field, have presented visions of the future of the industry that illustrate the progress of the industry and advances in technology.

For both Dario Gil, the Chief Operating Officer of IBM Research and the Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing of the company, and Chad Rigetti, formerly A researcher who founded Rigetti Computing and is its CEO, the moment a quantum computer will be able to perform operations better than a conventional computer is only three years old.

"[It’s] generate a better, faster or cheaper solution than you can do otherwise, "said Rigetti. "Quantum computing has emerged from a field of research in an engineering discipline and an engineering firm."

Given that for more than 30 years IBM has been studying technology and the millions (or billions) that have been invested in its development, even an end is a victory for researchers and technologists.

Achieving this goal, for all the brains and hours of research devoted to it, is hardly academic.

The Chinese government is building a $ 10 billion national quantum information laboratory in Anhui Province on the Shanghai border, scheduled to open in 2020. US Public Research on Computing quantum amounts to about $ 200 million a year.

One of the reasons why governments, in particular, are so interested in technology, is its potential to completely redefine the cybersecurity landscape. Some technologists argue that quantum computers have the potential to break any type of encryption technology, opening up all networks in the world to potential hacking.

Of course, quantum computing is more than just security. This will allow new ways of doing things that we can not even imagine because we have never had so much computing power. Think about artificial learning and automatic learning or drug development. any type of operation requiring intensive computing could benefit from the exponential increase in computing power that will bring quantum computing.

Security may be the Holy Grail for governments, but Rigetti and Gil both say the industrial chemicals sector will be the first place where the potentially radical transformation of a market will come first.

What is quantum computing?

Understanding quantum computing helps to understand the principles of physics behind it.

As Gil explained on stage (and on our website), quantum computing depends on the principles of overlay, entanglement, and interference.

Overlay is the notion that physicists can observe several potential states of a particle. "If you throw a coin, it's one or two states," Gil said. Which means that only one result can be observed. But if someone launches a coin, he sees a number of potential results.

Once you observe a particle, you can add another one and pair it with a phenomenon called quantum entanglement. "If you have two rooms where each can be superimposed and you can then take measurements" of the difference of the two.

Finally, there is interference, where the two particles can be manipulated by an external force to modify them and create different results.

"In classical systems, you have these bits and zeros and the logical operations of ands and ors and nots," said Gil. "The conventional computer is able to process the logical operations of the bits expressed in zeros and in one."

"In an algorithm, you put the computer in a super-positional state," Gil continued. "You can take the amplitude and the states and interfere with them and the algorithm is what interferes … I can have a lot, a lot of states representing different pieces of information and then I can interfere to get this data. "

These operations are incredibly difficult to maintain. At the beginning of research on quantum computing, superconducting devices only had a nanosecond before a qubit turned into a traditional data bit. These ranges have increased from 50 to 100 microseconds, allowing IBM and Rigetti to open their platforms to researchers and others for experiments (later).

The physical quantum computer

As one can imagine, the treatment of quantum particles is a delicate matter. Computer operations must therefore be carefully controlled. At the base of the machine is a large freezer that maintains a temperature of 15 millikelvins – near absolute zero and 180 times cooler than temperatures in interstellar space.

"These qubits are very delicate," Gil said. "Everything that comes from the outside world can be associated with it and destroy its state, and one way to protect it is to cool it."

The quantum computer wiring consists of superconducting coaxial cables. Computer inputs are microwave impulses that manipulate particles by creating a signal that is then interpreted by the computer operators.

These operators required a degree in quantum physics. But IBM and Rigetti have both worked on developing tools that allow a relatively new beginner to use the technology.

Quantum computing in the "cloud"

While companies like IBM and Rigetti are moving the cost of quantum computing from a few tens of millions of dollars to around $ 1 million to $ 2 million, these tools will probably never become commodities purchased by a consumer as a personal computer. .

On the contrary, as with most other current computing methods, quantum computing power will be provided as a service to users.

Indeed, Rigetti has announced on stage a new hybrid computing platform capable of providing IT services that enable the industry to achieve the quantum advantage – the commercially viable tipping point – and allow companies to explore Typical operations technologies could be disrupted by it.

"A user logs on to their own device and uses our software development kit to write a quantum application," Rigetti said. "This program is sent to a compiler and launches an optimization kit that runs on a quantum and classical computer … This is the architecture needed to achieve a quantum advantage.

IBM and Rigetti, along with a host of other competitors, are preparing users for access to quantum computing opportunities in the cloud.

IBM has more than one million chips making millions of quantum operations requested by users in more than 100 countries around the world.

"In an early cloud era, I'm not sure that economic forces will be there to help us develop the miniaturized environment of the laptop," Rigetti said. But the ramifications of commercialization of technology will be felt by everyone, everywhere.

"Quantum computing is going to change the world and it's going to happen in our lifetime, whether it's two or five years," he said. "Quantum computing will redefine every industry and touch every market. Every big company will be involved in a certain capacity in this space.