Photo by Richard Horvath on Unsplash
If you’ve ever wondered what the next big thing in technology will be, here’s the answer: quantum computers. As with most disruptive technologies, quantum computers are targeting multiple industries, with use cases that include biotechnology, finance, as well as food and energy production — to name just a few.
The key to its appeal is the combination of speed, cost reduction, and accuracy quantum algorithms have been shown to provide.
According to Chad Rigetti, CEO of Rigetti Computing, quantum computers provide an “exponential growth in processing power, capable of tackling problems our computers today cannot solve.”
The challenge is creating the hardware to run them.
IBM, Google, Hewlett Packard, and Microsoft are all working on quantum computing, along with California-based, called Rigetti Computing. What separates Rigetti from some of the other companies in the quantum computer space is their focus on hardware — they’re not just designing complex quantum algorithms and cloud infrastructure — they are also perfecting the computer hardware needed to run them.
If you are old enough to remember the first computers, you may recall seeing warehouse-sized rooms filled with row after row of cabinets. I worked in one when I was in the Army back in the late 70s. Today’s quantum computers are similarly cumbersome but they have one major advantage: panels of modular electrical connections that can be reconfigured by plugging and unplugging cords, somewhat reminiscent of the old telephone operator switchboard — but much more high-tech.
The network of plugs and cords allows scientists to experiment with various hardware configurations without rebuilding the system. This is key because so far the algorithms for quantum computing are more advanced than the computers needed to run them.
The holy grail will be finding a way to design a quantum computer that is both smaller and significantly more stable than anything that currently exists. To understand why we need to know something about quantum mechanics.
What is quantum mechanics?
According to Andrew Bestwick, Director of Engineering at Rigetti Computing “Quantum mechanics is the field that describes the simplest things around us — individual electrons or atoms or particles of light like photons.”
Rigetti Computing utilizes two of the basic properties of quantum mechanics: superposition of states and entanglement.
How is this different from current computing?
Classical computing relies on bits, also referred to as “0”s or “1”s or a “binary state.” Think of it as a switch. You can turn the switch on, or you can turn the switch off. When you use a computer today, every letter on your screen is represented by a string of 0s and 1s, which are unique to that letter.
In quantum computing, instead of bits, something called qubits (short for quantum bits) are used. These qubits represent a combination of 0s and 1s as opposed to a single 0 or a single 1 — this is superposition of states.
With quantum mechanics, you also have a special kind of superposition called entanglement. As IBM’s Jerry Chow, (Experimental Quantum Computing Group) explains:
“This is when you have two qubits in superposition states, which can only be understood with a collective element of both qubits.”
In other words, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts — and the resulting interactions, which are generated by combining qubits, allow scientists to perform an astonishing number of calculations at a mind-boggling pace — if they can be done in a deliberate and controlled way.
As Bestwick explains, the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars annually to determine what a drug might do in a patient’s body. They can’t use a classical computer for this because nature isn’t binary.
“Nature doesn’t store information in 0s and 1s. The operating system of nature is quantum mechanics.”
Imagine using a computer to test how a drug will react in the human body! If we can teach computers to speak the language of nature, the possibilities will indeed be endless.
But first, we need to develop hardware that can create and sustain the environment qubits require — and this is no small feat.
The first step in building a quantum computer is creating a quantum chip or a superconducting qubit.
The superconducting qubit gets its name from its capability to create electron flow with no resistance, which allows it to take on quantum states. But to get to that point, the superconducting qubit needs a specific environment, which includes temperature control (free electron flow requires consistently low temperatures) and a clean room (dust can mess up the connections).
Additional challenges include finding efficient ways to talk to qubits as well as extending the length of time information lasts within a qubit, known as “coherence time.”
There is also the challenge of standardization. So far, every quantum computer uses unique hardware and is coded using whatever language the developer prefers. Before quantum computers can become ubiquitous, there needs to be a unifying language.
An Israeli-based start-up, Quantum Machines, believes they have the answer to that. Their product, QUA “unifies universal quantum operations in their ‘raw’ format (pulse-level) with universal classical operations (anything we know from classical processing).”
Quantum Machines is developing the cloud infrastructure required to run quantum computers. Their approach is designed to eliminate the time and energy currently required to restart processes or re-route hardware when coding or reprogramming.
But Quantum Machines isn’t the only company focused on creating a cloud infrastructure for quantum computers. Regetti has its QCS Platform, and the cloud computing company AWS has just opened its Center for Quantum Computing, also based in California. Their goal is to deliver algorithms “requiring billions of quantum gate operations.” (IBM’s most advanced prototype is limited to 65 qubits).
While it’s too soon to tell which company will eventually win the race to create the first universal quantum computer, or who will create the cloud-based infrastructure that will become the standard, one thing seems certain: if we can harness the power of quantum mechanics to solve problems at the level at which they exist, this will be a game-changer.