Microsoft and Quantinuum say they’ve demonstrated a quantum computing system that can reduce the error rate for data processing by a factor of 800.
“Today signifies a major achievement for the entire quantum ecosystem,” Jason Zander, Microsoft’s executive vice president for strategic missions and technologies, said in a blog posting about the achievement.
Quantum computing could solve certain types of problems — ranging from data encryption and system optimization to the development of new synthetic materials — on a time scale that would be unachievable using classical computers. “Scaled quantum computers would offer the ability to simulate the interactions of molecules and atoms at the quantum level beyond the reach of classical computers, unlocking solutions that can be a catalyst for positive change in our world,” Zander said.
The secret to success lies in quantum bits, or qubits, that can represent multiple values until the results of a computation are read out. Qubits typically make use of exotic materials, such as superconducting circuits, diamonds with defects or laser-cooled ions.
One big challenge is that qubits tend to be “noisy” — that is susceptible to perturbations that introduce errors. For years, researchers have been hunting for ways to maintain the fidelity of qubits and correct any errors that arise. Such strategies typically involve linking up multiple physical qubits to represent a single “logical qubit.”
Just a couple of years ago, Microsoft researchers were saying that a quantum computer would need at least a million physical qubits in order to demonstrate an advantage over classical computers. But that’s because it was thought that thousands of physical qubits would be required to produce a single logical qubit. If fewer physical qubits are required for error correction, that would make it easier to build useful quantum computers.
The newly reported demonstration addresses that challenge: Microsoft and Quantinuum said they created four highly reliable logical qubits from just 30 physical qubits. “With this system, we ran more than 14,000 individual experiments without an error,” Zander said.
