Lifeboat Foundation

In the cons column, quantum computers are hard to use, require a very controlled set up to operate, and have to contend with “decoherence” or losing their quantum state which gives weird results. They’re also rare, expensive, and for most tasks, way less efficient than a traditional computer.

Still, a lot of these issues can be offset by combining a quantum computer with a traditional computer, just as VTT has done. Researchers can create a hybrid algorithm that has LUMI, the traditional supercomputer, handle the parts it does best while handing off anything that could benefit from quantum computing to HELMI. LUMI can then integrate the results of HELMI’s quantum calculations, perform any additional calculations necessary or even send more calculations to HELMI, and return the complete results to the researchers.

Finland is now one of few nations in the world with a quantum computer and a supercomputer, and LUMI is the most powerful quantum-enabled supercomputer. While quantum computers are still a way from being broadly commercially viable, these kinds of integrated research programs are likely to accelerate progress. VTT is currently developing a 20-qubit quantum computer with a 50-qubit upgrade planned for 2024.

A large universal quantum computer is still an engineering dream, but machines designed to leverage quantum effects to solve specific classes of problems—such as D-wave’s computers—are alive and well. But an unlikely rival could challenge these specialized machines: computers built from purposely noisy parts.

This week at the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM 2022), engineers unveiled several advances that bring a large-scale probabilistic computer closer to reality than ever before.

Quantum computers are unrivaled for any algorithm that relies on quantum’s complex amplitudes. “But for problems where the numbers are positive, sometimes called stochastic problems, probabilistic computing could be quite competitive,” says Supriyo Datta, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University and one of the pioneers of probabilistic computing.

The ability to integrate fiber-based quantum information technology into existing optical networks would be a significant step toward applications in quantum communication. To achieve this, quantum light sources must be able to emit single photons with controllable positioning and polarization and at 1.35 and 1.55 micrometer ranges where light travels at minimum loss in existing optical fiber networks, such as telecommunications networks. This combination of features has been elusive until now, despite two decades of research efforts.

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have emerged as a novel platform for next-generation photonics and electronics applications. Although scientists have demonstrated 2D quantum emitters operating at the visible regime, single-photon emission in the most desirable telecom bands has never been achieved in 2D systems.

To solve this problem, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a strain engineering protocol to deterministically create two-dimensional quantum light emitters with operating wavelength tunable across O and C telecommunication bands. The polarization of the emissions can be tuned with a magnetic field by harnessing the valley degree of freedom.

Year 2021 face_with_colon_three

By exploiting polarization entanglement between photons, quantum holography can circumvent the need for first-order coherence that is vital to classical holography.

John F. Clauser reflects on receiving the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics for the groundbreaking work he did 50 years ago.

Today’s stories include Why a Puzzling New Image Of Jupiter Could Help Us Find Life Beyond Earth to Scientists Test Einstein’s Relativity On A Cosmological Scale…

One of the most enduring human mysteries is why we possess sentient awareness, a paradox known to science as the “hard problem of consciousness.”

At the physiological level, we have a good understanding that consciousness is driven by electrical impulses and chemical signals between neurons in the brain. Though precisely what regions of the brain are responsible for thoughtful experience is still a matter of debate.

However, scientists still do not understand why the same essential elements of the universe can come together to form an inanimate object like a rock or a highly complex organic structure like the human brain.

With the reveal of its 433 qubit quantum computer, IBM takes a large step forward in the race towards next-generation processing.

In initial tests, a simplified version of a popular superconducting qubit achieves high computation accuracies, making it attractive for future quantum computers.