Quantum computing has become the holy grail of computing, although for a long time it has ceased to be the future to become, more and more, the present. It is true that there are still many years to go until we reach that point where traditional computing will begin to be displaced by quantum computing, but it is impossible to deny that we are already walking that roadand that there is no return.
In general, quantum computing reminds me a lot of that almost “magical” transition that meant the leap from analogof computing based on relays and vacuum valves, to the age of transistors, although this new type of computing is not destined to completely replace the current one, and there is no doubt that it will end up representing an even greater evolution, and much more impressive.
As I said, we have come a long way, but we still have many important steps to take and many issues, and challenges, to resolve. In this sense Norberto Mateos Carrascal, Country Manager of Intel Spain, has sent us an interesting opinion article where explains some of the most important points of quantum computingand we want to share it with you because we are convinced that it will help you to deepen and better understand all the keys that surround quantum computing.
Supercomputers and quantum computing: what’s the difference?
Quantum computers have been in the making for decades. Touted as the next big thing with the potential to solve many of today’s problems, Quantum computing market is expected to reach $1.76 billion by 2026driven by public sector investments in research and development, according to MarketsandMarkets Research Private Ltd.
Most users think of computing power in terms of the speed of a computer. For commercial workloads that handle massive calculations and databases, such as weather forecasting and molecular modeling, even the best consumer desktops are inadequate. This is where supercomputers come into play. Like all classical computers, they work based on the calculation of binary data: one or zero. Yes or no. On or off. The complexity comes when long strings of binary information are presented.
By comparison, quantum computers they work according to the principles of quantum physics and are therefore based on quantum bits or qubits. A simple way to understand a qubit is to think of it as a coin, which has two sides: heads or tails. Let us imagine that the coin is spinning, and while it is spinning, it is somehow in the states of heads and tails at the same time. This state is known as “superposition” of the two states. With two of these spinning coins, we will have four states at the same time. Therefore, the power of a quantum computer grows exponentially with the number of qubits. In theory, with 50 of these entangled qubits, we could access more states than a supercomputer. With 300 entangled qubits, it would represent more states than the atoms in the universe at the same time.
Unlike supercomputers, quantum computers treat the data in a non-binary way and perform calculations based on probabilities. The practical uses of a quantum computer are yet to be discovered, but the likelihood that they will break the most powerful encryption algorithms available today has governments and organizations considering the potential of such systems. For example, it would take a conventional computer 300 billion years to break RSA’s 2,048-bit encryption algorithm. In contrast, a quantum computer with 4,099 qubits only needs 10 seconds.
In November 2021, the largest quantum computer milestone occurred, which is only 127 qubits, so we are still a long way from a quantum computer of 4,099 qubits.
The long road to quantum practicality
In fact, we need more than a million qubits of high quality to commercialize quantum computing, which is known as achieving “quantum practicality”. or what is the same, when a quantum computer has reached commercial viability and can solve relevant problems in the real world.
The challenge therefore is in the fragility of qubits, which have a very short life (microseconds), and the slightest “noise”, such as external interference from magnetic fields and temperature variation, can cause information loss. Here are three key areas we need to address to advance the scalability of viable quantum computing systems.
High temperature qubit management with spin qubits
The brittle nature of qubits requires them to operate at extremely cold temperatures (20 millikelvin, or about -273 degrees Celsius), which also poses a challenge for designing the materials of the chips themselves and the control electronics needed to make them. function. In its quest to scale quantum chips, Intel, in collaboration with QuTech, produced a silicon spin qubit technology process that allowed to manufacture more than 10,000 arrays with several qubits on a single wafer with a performance greater than 95%. Spin qubits are very similar to transistors and are manufactured using 300mm process technology in the same factories as Intel’s complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chips. The joint research showed that it is possible for qubits to be produced alongside conventional chips in the same manufacturing facilities.
These spin qubits are much smaller, but have a longer coherence time and can operate at higher temperatures than conventional qubits. superconducting qubits (1 kelvin/-272.15 degrees Celsius), an advantage for scalability. These features dramatically reduce the system complexity required for the chips to function by allowing control electronics to be integrated much closer to the processor. The research also highlights individual coherent control of two qubits with single-qubit fidelities of up to 99.3 percent. These advances point to the possibility of a future quantum system’s cryogenic controls and silicon spin qubits coming together in an integrated package.
Simplifying system design to speed up setup time and improve qubit performance
Another key challenge in current quantum systems is the use of room temperature electronics and the many coaxial cables leading to the qubit chip inside a dilution cooler. This approach does not accommodate a large number of qubits due to the form factor, cost, power consumption, and thermal load of the cooler. It is crucial to address this challenge and radically simplify the need for multiple racks of equipment and thousands of cables that go in and out of the refrigerator to run a quantum machine.
Intel has replaced these large instruments with a highly integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC) and the first cryogenic quantum computing control chip that simplifies system design. This approach uses sophisticated signal processing techniques to speed up setup time, improve qubit performance, and enable engineering teams to efficiently scale the quantum system to a higher number of qubits.
A scalable approach to quantum computing
Since quantum computing is a completely new type of computing, it has a totally different way of running programs that require new hardware, software, and applications developed specifically for these systems. This means that quantum computers need new components at all levels., from the qubit control processor, the control electronics, to the qubit chip device, among others. Intel is working hard on developing all of these components for the full stack. The challenge is to get all these components to work together, which is like choreographing a quantum dance.
It is clear that quantum computers they are not intended to replace the classic IT infrastructure, if not they are designed to increase it. Its development aims to solve some of the most intricate challenges in the world that have left the current classic computers unanswered. But the path to building a viable system that works on a practical and commercial level will require persistence, patience, and strategic partnerships.
In a way, at Intel, our work on classical computers makes us particularly apt for this task, given the scale needed to address the main challenges facing the development of quantum computing. The advances we’ve made with spin qubit technology, cryogenic control, and developing a full technology stack are just some of the things Intel is advancing to make quantum computing fully viable and practical in the future. far away.
