Google unveils ‘mind-boggling’ quantum computing chip

Google has unveiled a new chip that it says takes five minutes to solve a problem that would currently take one of the world’s fastest supercomputers a septillion years – that’s 10 After 24 0s – in completion.

The chip is the latest development in a field known as quantum computing – which is trying to use the principles of particle physics to create a new kind of brain-powerful computer.

Google says its new quantum chip, dubbed “Willow,” incorporates a key “breakthrough” and “paves the way for an efficient, large-scale quantum computer.”

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

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

They use quantum mechanics — the strange behavior of extremely small particles — to crack problems much faster than conventional computers.

It is hoped that quantum computers will be able to use this ability to speed up complex processes, such as creating new drugs.

There are also fears that it could be used for ill will – 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 “quantum-proofed” to prevent reading by the powerful quantum computers of the future.

Hartmut Nevin leads Google’s Quantum AI Lab, which 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 declined to provide further details for now.

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

Initially these applications will be simulations of systems where quantum effects are important.

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

Mr Niven told the BBC that Willow’s performance meant it was “the best quantum processor ever built”.

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

He cautions against overstating the importance of Willow’s success in a single test.

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

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

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

In very simple terms, the more efficient a quantum computer is, the more qubits it has.

A major problem with the technology, however, is that it is prone to errors – a phenomenon that has previously added more qubits to a chip.

But Google researchers say they’ve changed that and managed to engineer and program the new chip so that as the number of qubits increases, the error rate drops across the system.

Mr Niven believed it was a significant “breakthrough” that broke a key challenge the field had pursued for “nearly 30 years”.

“If you have a single-engine aircraft it will work, but two engines are safer, four engines are still safer,” he told the BBC.

Professor Woodward said defects were a major obstacle to building more powerful quantum computers and the development was “encouraging for anyone trying to build a practical quantum computer.”

But Google itself notes that to build practically useful quantum computers the error rate would have to be much lower than what Willow is showing.

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

Countries around the world are investing in quantum computing.

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

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

Nevertheless, it was “clearly a highly impressive piece of work”.

Quantum computers will eventually help with many tasks, he said, including “logistics problems like distributing cargo freight on airplanes or routing telecom signals or stored energy across a national grid.”

And there were already 50 quantum businesses in the UK, which had raised £800 million in funding and employed 1,300 people.

Researchers from Japan’s Oxford University and Osaka University on Friday Published a paper Showing very low decay rates in trapped ion qubits.

Theirs is a different way to build a quantum computer that can operate at room temperature – while Google’s chip has to be stored at very low temperatures to be effective.