Google unveils ‘mind-blowing’ quantum computing chip

Google has unveiled a new chip which it says solves a problem it takes five minutes to accomplish that would currently take one of the world’s fastest super-computers a septillion years to accomplish. That means 24 0 after 10.

The chip is the latest development in a field called quantum computing – which is attempting to use the principles of particle physics to create a new kind of amazingly powerful computer.

Google says its new quantum chip, called “Willow,” incorporates major “breakthroughs” and “paves the way for a useful, large-scale quantum computer.”

However experts say Willow, for now, is largely an experimental tool, meaning a quantum computer powerful enough to solve a wide range of real-world problems is still years – and billions of dollars – away. Is.

Quantum computers work fundamentally differently than the computers on your phone or laptop.

They use quantum mechanics – the strange behavior of ultra-small particles – to solve problems far faster than conventional computers.

It is hoped that quantum computers will eventually be able to use that capability to speed up complex processes, such as creating new medicines.

There are also fears that it could be used for wrongdoings – for example to break some types of encryption used to protect sensitive data.

apple in february announced That the encryption protecting iMessage chats is being made “quantum proof” to prevent them from being read by powerful quantum computers of the future.

Hartmut Neven leads Google’s Quantum AI Lab that created Willow and describes himself as the project’s “chief optimist.”

He told the BBC that Willow will be used in some practical applications – but he declined to give further details.

But a chip capable of commercial applications won’t emerge before the end of the decade, he said.

Initially these applications will simulate systems where quantum effects are important

“For example, when it comes to the design of nuclear fusion reactors, to understand the workings of drugs and pharmaceutical development, it will be relevant to developing better car batteries and a long list of other such tasks”.

Mr Neven told the BBC that Willow’s performance means it is “the best quantum processor ever built”.

But computing expert Professor Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey says quantum computers will be better at many tasks than current “classical” computers, but they will not replace them.

He cautions against exaggerating the importance of Willow’s achievement in a single trial.

“We have to be careful not to compare apples and oranges,” he told the BBC.

Google chose a problem to use as a performance benchmark, which was “devised for quantum computers” and that “did not demonstrate universal speedup compared to classical computers”.

Nonetheless, he said that Willow represents significant progress, particularly in what is known as error correction.

In very simple words, the more useful a quantum computer is, the more qubits it has.

However a major problem with the technology is that it is prone to errors – a tendency that has increased as more qubits are added to the chip in the first place.

But Google researchers say they have reversed this and managed to engineer and program the new chip so the error rate across the system is reduced as the number of qubits increases.

Mr Neven believes it was a major “breakthrough” that solved a significant challenge the field had been facing “for almost 30 years”.

He told the BBC that it was comparable, “If you have an airplane with only one engine – that will work, but two engines are safe, four engines are still safe”.

Errors are a significant hurdle in building more powerful quantum computers and this development is “encouraging for anyone attempting to build a practical quantum computer”, Professor Woodward said.

But Google itself notes that to develop a practically useful quantum computer the error rate would still need to be much lower than that demonstrated by Willow.

Willow was built at Google’s new, purpose-built manufacturing plant in California.

Countries around the world are investing in quantum computing.

The UK has recently launched the National Quantum Computing Center (NQCC).

Its director, Michael Cuthbert, told the BBC that he was wary of the language promoting a “hype cycle” and thought that Willow was “a milestone rather than a breakthrough”.

Nevertheless, it was “clearly a highly influential work”.

Ultimately quantum computers will help with a variety of tasks, including “logistical problems such as cargo freight delivery on aircraft or the routing of telecom signals or stored energy in the national grid”.

And there were already 50 quantum businesses in the UK, attracting £800 million of funding and employing 1300 people.

On Friday, researchers from Japan’s Oxford University and Osaka University published a paper Demonstration of very low error rates in trapped-ion qubits.

Theirs is a different way of making a quantum computer that is capable of operating at room temperature – whereas Google’s chip has to be stored at extremely low temperatures to be effective.