China develops record-fast quantum computer

China's latest quantum computer can solve a super-complex problem in one millionth of a second, 20 billion years faster than the world's fastest supercomputer.

The first version of the JiuZhang quantum computer in Hefei. Photo: Xinhua — The first version of the JiuZhang quantum computer in Hefei. Photo: *Xinhua*

The JiuZhang 3 prototype broke the record set by its predecessor by a million-fold increase in computing speed, according to research published on October 10 in the journal Physical Review Letters. The research team was led by Pan Jianwei, a senior scientist in China’s national quantum research program at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, according to the South China Morning Post .

The first Jiuzhang machine, named after an ancient book of mathematics, was built by Pan’s team in 2020. It uses photons, tiny particles that travel at the speed of light, as its computing medium. Each photon carries a qubit, the basic unit of quantum information. After increasing the number of photons from 76 to 113 in the first two versions of the computer, Pan and his colleagues reached 255 in the latest version.

The team used Jiuzhang 3 to solve a complex problem based on Gaussian boson sampling, which simulates the behavior of light particles moving through a maze of crystals and mirrors. The problem was originally presented as a goalless game, although recent research has shown that Gaussian boson sampling has some applications in cryptography. In the experiment, the researchers said that Jiuzhang 3 solved the problem with the most complex set of samples, demonstrating that it could handle the task in a millionth of a second. Frontier, the fastest supercomputer developed by the US and the most powerful computer in the world by mid-2022, would need more than 20 billion years to complete the same task.

China, the United States, and many other countries are racing to achieve “quantum supremacy,” the point at which a machine can outperform a conventional computer, solving problems beyond the capabilities of traditional machines. But they are using different methods to accomplish that goal, and photon processors are just one of several types of quantum computers.

Xanadu, a Toronto company, is also developing a light-based system. In collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US, they are introducing the Aurora quantum processor with 216 photons by 2022. However, despite its high speed, this type of machine is not yet a replacement for conventional computers. At present, they can only operate for short periods in protected environments for specialized tasks and are prone to errors.

An Khang (According to SCMP )

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