One of the secrets to building the worlds most powerful computer is probably perched by your bathroom sink.

At IBMs Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York States Westchester County, scientists always keep a box of dental flossReach is the preferred brandclose by in case they need to tinker with their oil-drum-size quantum computers, the latest of which can complete certain tasks millions of times as fast as your laptop.

Inside the shimmering aluminum canister of IBMs System One, which sits shielded by the same kind of protective glass as the Mona Lisa, are three cylinders of diminishing circumference, rather like a set of Russian dolls. Together, these encase a chandelier of looping silver wires that cascade through chunky gold plates to a quantum chip in the base. To work properly, this chip requires super-cooling to 0.015 kelvinsa smidgen above absolute zero and colder than outer space. Most materials contract or grow brittle and snap under such intense chill. But ordinary dental floss, it turns out, maintains its integrity remarkably well if you need to secure wayward wires.

But only the unwaxed, unflavored kind, says Jay Gambetta, IBMs vice president of quantum. Otherwise, released vapors mess everything up.

Photograph by Thomas Prior for TIME

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Its a curiously homespun facet of a technology that is set to transform pretty much everything. Quantums unique ability to crunch stacks of data is already optimizing the routes of thousands of fuel tankers traversing the globe, helping decide which ICU patients require the most urgent care, and mimicking chemical processes at the atomic level to better design new materials. It also promises to supercharge artificial intelligence, with the power to better train algorithms that can finally turn driverless cars and drone taxis into a reality. Quantum AI simulations exhibit a degree of effectiveness and efficiency that is mind-boggling, U.S. National Cyber Director Chris Inglis tells TIME.

Read More: DeepMinds CEO Helped Take AI Mainstream. Now Hes Urging Caution

Quantums earliest adopters are asset-management firmsfor which incorporating quantum calculations involves few increased overhead costsbut commercial uses arent far behind. Spanish firm Multiverse Computing has run successful pilot projects with multinational clients like BASF and Bosch that show its quantum algorithms can double foreign-exchange trading profits and catch almost four times as many production-line defects. Quantum deep-learning algorithms are completely different from classical ones, says Multiverse CEO Enrique Lizaso Olmos. You can train them faster, try more strategies, and they are much better at getting the correlations that matter from a lot of data.

Quantum chandeliers may look spectacular but they arent practical for next generation computers. IBM has instead designed flexible cabling to replace the looped wires.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Data received from quantum computers must be fed to rack of classical control electronic systems to process the calculations.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Tech giants from Google to Amazon and Alibabanot to mention nation-states vying for technological supremacyare racing to dominate this space. The global quantum-computing industry is projected to grow from $412 million in 2020 to $8.6 billion in 2027, according to an International Data Corp. analysis.

Whereas traditional computers rely on binary bitsswitches either on or off, denoted as 1s and 0sto process information, the qubits that underpin quantum computing are tiny subatomic particles that can exist in some percentage of both states simultaneously, rather like a coin spinning in midair. This leap from dual to multivariate processing exponentially boosts computing power. Complex problems that currently take the most powerful supercomputer several years could potentially be solved in seconds. Future quantum computers could open hitherto unfathomable frontiers in mathematics and science, helping to solve existential challenges like climate change and food security. A flurry of recent breakthroughs and government investment means we now sit on the cusp of a quantum revolution. I believe we will do more in the next five years in quantum innovation than we did in the last 30, says Gambetta.

But any disrupter comes with risks, and quantum has become a national-security migraine. Its problem-solving capacity will soon render all existing cryptography obsolete, jeopardizing communications, financial transactions, and even military defenses. People describe quantum as a new space race, says Dan OShea, operations manager for Inside Quantum Technology, an industry publication. In October, U.S. President Joe Biden toured IBMs quantum data center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., calling quantum vital to our economy and equally important to our national security. In this new era of great-power competition, China and the U.S. are particularly hell-bent on conquering the technology lest they lose vital ground. This technology is going to be the next industrial revolution, says Tony Uttley, president and COO for Quantinuum, a Colorado-based firm that offers commercial quantum applications. Its like the beginning of the internet, or the beginning of classical computing.

Quantum chips are extremely sensitive. This decade-old IBM quantum processor was used in an experiment that proved how background microwaves affect qubits.

Thomas Prior for TIME

If anything, its surprising that traditional computing has taken us so far. From the trail-blazing Apple II of the late 1970s to todays smartphones and supercomputers, all processors break down tasks into binary. But life is so complex that rendering information in such a rudimentary manner is like playing a Rachmaninoff concerto in Morse code.

Quantum is also more in tune with nature. Moleculesthe building blocks of the universeare multiple atoms bound together by electrons that exist as part of each. The way these electrons essentially occupy two states at once is what quantum particles replicate, presenting applications for natural and material sciences by predicting how drugs interact with the human body, or substances perform under corrosion. Traditional manufacturing takes calculated guesses to make breakthroughs through trial and error; by mirroring the natural world, quantum should allow advances to be purposefully designed.

Read More: Column: How Our Cells Strategize To Keep Us Alive

While the worlds biggest companies, alongside hundreds of startups, are clamoring to harness quantum, IBM has emerged in recent years as the industry leader. Today, the firm has over 60 functioning quantum computersmore than the rest of the world combinedand a roster of collaborators that include titans of practically every industry from Exxon-Mobil to Sony. Its a welcome return to technologys zenith for the storied firm, founded over a century ago to produce tabulating machines fed with punch cards. In recent years, IBM had fallen behind rivals like Apple and Microsoft by not seizing the initiative with cloud computing and AI. Quantum offers some redemption. Its great to be back at the top again, says one executive. Its no secret that we let things slip by not jumping on cloud.

In November, IBM unveiled its new 433-qubit Osprey chipthe worlds most powerful quantum processor, the speed of which, if represented in traditional bits, would far exceed the total number of atoms in the known universe. IBM has more than 20 quantum computers available on its open-source quantum tool kit Qiskit, which has been downloaded more than 450,000 times to date. In order to build an industry around quantum, some machines are free to use, while paying clients such as startups and scholars can access more powerful ones remotely on a lease basis. IBM has a bold road map to launch a 1,121-qubit processor this year and, by 2025, surpass 4,000 qubits by creating modular quantum circuits that link multiple processor chips in the same computer. Modularity is a big inflection point, says Dario Gil, IBM senior vice president and director of research. We now have a way to engineer machines that will have tens of thousands of qubits.

Inside the IBM research lab in Yorktown Heights, New York

Thomas Prior for TIME

IBM research lab in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Quantums industrial uses are boundless. Inside BMWs headquarters in Munich there stands a wall that gives vehicle designers sleepless nights. Creating a new car model from scratch takes at least four years. First, designers use computer-aided styling to sketch an exterior that combines beauty with practicality. Next, a scale model is carved in clay and placed in a wind tunnel to assess aerodynamics. After countless decisions on interior, engine performance, and so on comes the ultimate test: a prototype is driven at 35 m.p.h. into that fabled wall to test how it performs in a crash. Should the car fail to meet various safety criteria, its back to the drawing board.

This is where quantum can help by accurately predicting how complex materials of different shapes will perform under stress. Robust simulated crash tests can save up to six months in the whole process, says Carsten Sapia, vice president of strategy, governance, and IT security at BMW Group, which has partnered with French quantum firm Pasqal. Quantum computing will also help us find the new optimum between design, maximum interior space, and best aerodynamics.

Thats just the start. Modern business teems with optimization problems that are ideally suited to quantum algorithms and could save time, energy, and resources. Were not just building the technology, we have to enable the workforce to use it, explains Katie Pizzolato, IBMs director of quantum strategy and applications research.

Sapia says finding uses for the technology is easy; the challenge will be ensuring that all divisions of BMW are able to utilize it. Already, BMW is unable to communicate from Europe to its cars in China for driving software maintenance and monitoring because of increasingly strict curbs on the transfer of data across borders. In the future, we will rely on everywhere in the world having access to quantum technology to run our business, Sapia says. So how can we set it up so no matter what happens on a geopolitical scale that we still have access to this technology?

The full chandelier inside a quantum computer.

Thomas Prior for TIME

Over the past few years quantum has moved from a footnote to the top of the global security agenda. To date, 17 countries have national quantum strategies and four more are developing them. China has invested an estimated $25 billion in quantum research since the mid-1980s, according to Quantum Computing Report. Its top quantum scientist, Pan Jianwei, led the launch of the worlds first quantum satellite in 2016 and in 2021 unveiled a then record-breaking 56-qubit quantum computer. Chinas 14th Five-Year Plan, published in March 2021, made mastery of quantum a policy priority. The blurred line between industry and national security in China gives them an advantage, says David Spirk, former chief data officer at the Department of Defense.

In response, the White House in May published a National Security Memorandum that ordered all federal agencies to transition to post-quantum security owing to significant risks to economic and national security. Given that upgrading critical infrastructure can take decades, and literally everything connected to the internet is at risk, the impetus is to act now. We realized that while [quantum is] wonderful for humanity, the first thing people are going to do is weaponize these systems, says Skip Sanzeri, founder and COO of QuSecure, a post-quantum cybersecurity firm enlisted by the U.S. military and federal government to handle what he says could be a $1 trillion cybersecurity upgrade.

Still, Spirk worries that the U.S. risks falling behind and is calling for a Manhattan Projectlike focus on quantum. Of the over $30 billion spent globally on quantum last year, according to the World Economic Forum, China accounted for roughly half and the E.U. almost a quarter. The U.S. National Quantum Initiative, meanwhile, spent just $1.2 billiona figure Spirk calls trivial against $1 trillion in total defense spending. This is not a coming wave, he says, its here.

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The stakes couldnt be higher. Today, practically all cybersecuritywhether WhatsApp messages, bank transfers, or digital handshakesis based on RSA, an asymmetric cryptography algorithm used to safely transfer data. But while a regular computer needs billions of years to crack RSA, a fast quantum computer would take just hours. In December, a team of scientists in China published a paper that claimed it had a quantum algorithm that could break RSA with a 372-qubit computer (though its conclusions are hotly debated). The race is now on to devise postquantum securitya job that falls to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST. In 2016, NIST announced a competition for programmers to propose new post-quantum encryption algorithms. The results were mixed: one of the finalists announced on July 5, 2022, has since been cracked by a regular laptop in a little over an hour.

In some ways, its already too late. Even though quantum computers powerful enough to crack RSA are a few years away from being openly available, hackers are already seizing and storing sensitive data in the knowledge that they will be able to access it via quantum very soon. Every day that you dont convert to a quantum-safe protocol, theres no recovery plan, Gil says.

The glass shell around the quantum computer allows IBM to tightly control the temperature inside. This is critical for the quantum chip, which has to be kept at a fraction above absolute zero.

Thomas Prior for TIME

The war in Ukraine has also served as a wake-up call. It is historys first hot conflict to begin with cyber-attacks, as Russia targeted vital -communications and infrastructure to lay the groundwork for its military assault. Public services, energy grids, media, banks, businesses, and nonprofit organizations were subjected to a cyberblitzkrieg, impacting the distribution of medicines, food, and relief supplies. Modern warfare and nationalsecurity mechanisms are grounded in the speed and precision of decisionmaking. If your computer is faster than theirs, you win, its pretty simple, says Spirk. Quantum is that next leap.

Read More: Exclusive: OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic

But malign intentions are just one hazard. With the U.S. embroiled in a new Cold War, its also unclear if China and Russia would adopt new NIST protocols, not least since in the past, RSA cryptography has allegedly been breached by the U.S. National Security Agency. In September, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said quantum would have an outsized importance over the coming decade, adding that export controls could be used to maintain U.S. advantage. Competing post-quantum security standards across Washingtons and Beijings spheres of influence have the potential to cleave the world into divergent blocs, with grave implications for global trade. [The] balkanization of what we know today as a free and open internet is distinctly possible, Inglis says.

The trepidation surrounding quantum doesnt stem solely from security risks. We trust classical computers in part because we can verify their computations with pen and paper. But quantum computers involve such arcane physics, and deal with such complex problems, that traditional verification is extremely tricky. For now, its possible to simulate many quantum calculations on a traditional super-computer to check the outcome. But soon will come a time when trusting a quantum computer will require a leap of faith. Trust building across the entire ecosystem right now is really important, says Uttley.

Boeing, for one, has been working with IBMs quantum team since 2020 on designing new materials for its next generation of aircraft. But given the colossal reputational stakes, the firm is in no rush. The modeling tools that we use to design our airplanes are closely monitored, says Jay Lowell, chief engineer for disruptive computing and networks at Boeing. To turn [quantum] into an operational code is a huge, huge hurdle.

One that IBM knows only too well. But by making its quantum computers open source, and welcoming academics and entrepreneurs from all over, the firm hopes to mitigate the hesitancy. As Gil puts it, this is a new frontier of humanity.

With reporting by Leslie Dickstein

Correction, Jan. 28

The original version of this story misstated the name of a French quantum firm. It is Pasqal, not Pascal.

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For years, quantum computings news cycle was dominated by headlines about record-setting systems. Researchers at Google and IBM have had spats over who achieved whatand whether it was worth the effort. But the time for arguing over whos got the biggest processor seems to have passed: firms are heads-down and preparing for life in the real world. Suddenly, everyone is behaving like grown-ups.

As if to emphasize how much researchers want to get off the hype train, IBM is expected to announce a processor in 2023 that bucks the trend of putting ever more quantum bits, or qubits, into play. Qubits, the processing units of quantum computers, can be built from a variety of technologies, including superconducting circuitry, trapped ions, and photons, the quantum particles of light.

IBM has long pursued superconducting qubits, and over the years the company has been making steady progress in increasing the number it can pack on a chip. In 2021, for example, IBM unveiled one with a record-breaking 127 of them. In November, it debuted its 433-qubit Osprey processor, and the company aims to release a 1,121-qubit processor called Condor in 2023.

But this year IBM is also expected to debut its Heron processor, which will have just 133 qubits. It might look like a backwards step, but as the company is keen to point out, Herons qubits will be of the highest quality. And, crucially, each chip will be able to connect directly to other Heron processors, heralding a shift from single quantum computing chips toward modular quantum computers built from multiple processors connected togethera move that is expected to help quantum computers scale up significantly.

Heron is a signal of larger shifts in the quantum computing industry. Thanks to some recent breakthroughs, aggressive roadmapping, and high levels of funding, we may see general-purpose quantum computers earlier than many would have anticipated just a few years ago, some experts suggest. Overall, things are certainly progressing at a rapid pace, says Michele Mosca, deputy director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo.

Here are a few areas where experts expect to see progress.

IBMs Heron project is just a first step into the world of modular quantum computing. The chips will be connected with conventional electronics, so they will not be able to maintain the quantumness of information as it moves from processor to processor. But the hope is that such chips, ultimately linked together with quantum-friendly fiber-optic or microwave connections, will open the path toward distributed, large-scale quantum computers with as many as a million connected qubits. That may be how many are needed to run useful, error-corrected quantum algorithms. We need technologies that scale both in size and in cost, so modularity is key, says Jerry Chow, director at IBMQuantum Hardware System Development.

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What's next for quantum computing | MIT Technology Review

What is a quantum?

A quantum (plural: quanta) is the smallest discrete unit of a phenomenon. For example, a quantum of light is a photon, and a quantum of electricity is an electron. Quantum comes from Latin, meaning "an amount" or "how much?" If something is quantifiable, then it can be measured.

The modern use of quantum in physics was coined by Max Planck in 1901. He was trying to explain black-body radiation and how objects changed color after being heated. Instead of assuming that the energy was emitted in a constant wave, he posed that the energy was emitted in discrete packets, or bundles. These were termed quanta of energy. This led to him discovering Planck's constant, which is a fundamental universal value.

Planck's constant is symbolized as h and relates the energy in one photon to the frequency of the photon. Further units were derived from Planck's constant: Planck's distance and Planck's time, which describe the shortest meaningful unit of distance and the shortest meaningful unit of time. For anything smaller, Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle renders the measurements meaningless.

The discovery of quanta and the quantum nature of subatomic particles led to a revolution in physics. This became quantum theory, or quantum mechanics. Quantum theory describes the behavior of microscopic particles; Albert Einstein's theory of relativity describes the behavior of macroscopic things. These two theories are the underpinning of modern physics. Unfortunately, they deal with different domains, leaving physicists to seek a so-called unified theory of everything.

Subatomic particles behave in ways that are counterintuitive. A single photon quantum of light can simultaneously go through two slits in a piece of material, as shown in the double-slit experiment. Schrdinger's cat is a famous thought experiment that describes a quantum particle in superposition, or the state where the probability waveform has not collapsed. Particles can also become quantumly entangled, causing them to interact instantly over a distance.

Quantum computing uses the nature of subatomic particles to perform calculations instead of using electrical signals as in classical computing. Quantum computers use qubits instead of binary bits. By programming the initial conditions of the qubit, quantum computing can solve a problem when the superposition state collapses. The forefront of quantum computer research is in linking greater numbers of qubits together to be able to solve larger and more complex problems.

Quantum computers can perform certain calculations much faster than classical computers. To find an answer to a problem, classical computers need to go through each option one at a time. It can take a long time to go through all the options for some types of problems. Quantum computers do not need to try each option; instead, they resolve the answer almost instantly.

Some problems that quantum computers can solve quicker than classical computers are factoring for prime numbers and the traveling salesman problem. Once quantum computers demonstrate the ability to solve these problems faster than classical computers, quantum supremacy will be achieved.

Prime factorization is an important function for the modern cryptography systems that secure digital communication. Experts currently expect that quantum computers will render existing cryptographic systems insecure and obsolete.

Efforts to develop post-quantum cryptography are underway to create algorithms that are resistant to quantum attacks, but can still be used by classical computers. Eventually, fully quantum cryptography will be available for quantum computers.

See also: Table of Physical Units and Table of Physical Constants

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Two researchers at the University of Notre Dame in collaboration with South Koreas KyungHeeUniversity recently utilized quantum computing to help develop a new transparent window coating capable of blocking solar heat. In findings published in ACS Energy Levels, Tengfei Luo, Notre Dames DoriniFamily Professor of Energy Studies, and postdoctoral associate,SeongminKim, worked together to devise their transparent radiative cooler (TRC) layer, which only permits external visible light that doesnt raise indoor temperatures, thus cutting buildings cooling costs by as much as a third of current rates. According to the International Energy Agency, air conditioning and electric fans comprise 20 percent of buildings energy costs around the worldroughly 10 percent of human electricity consumption.

To determine the absolute best materials configuration, the team relied on machine learning and the promising field of quantum computing for a solution. Although in its relatively early phases of development, quantum computing offers immense potential due to its ability to far surpass traditional computing methods. Currently, even the most advanced of classical supercomputers rely on a binary staterepresenting information as 1s and 0sto do all their calculations, meaning that there are limits to what they can and cant achieve. Quantum computing, in contrast, can represent information as either 1, 0, or a combination of the two. This hypothetically gives scientists a massive advantage in numerous fields, such as natural science simulations and nuclear fusion research.

[Related: In photos: Journey to the center of a quantum computer.]

In order for Luo and Kims TRC design to work properly, incredibly thin layers of materials needed to be compiled in an exact way to ensure optimal heat reduction. In this case, machine learning and quantum computing teamed up to test models within fractions of a second, parsing through virtually ever possible mixture and material combination to find the best one.

The result is a 1.2 micron-thick layering of silica, alumina, and titanium oxide upon a glass base that is then coated with the same polymer used in contact lenses. The new combination subsequently outperformed other heat-reduction glass coating currently available. I think the quantum computing strategy is as important as the material itself,Luo said in a press release from the University of Notre Dame yesterday. Using this approach, we were able to find the best-in-class material, design a radiative cooler and experimentally prove its cooling effect.

As advancements progress, these kinds of transparent heat-reducing layers can be increasingly applied to windows and glass structures in order to help dramatically lower energy emissions as the world races to stave off climate changes worst potential futures.

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Quantum computing used to design heat-blocking glass | Popular Science

Researchers have used Google's Sycamore quantum computer to simulate a simplified wormhole for the first time, and sent a piece of quantum information through it

By Leah Crane

Simulations on a quantum computer show how information might travel through a wormhole

inqnet/A. Mueller (Caltech)

A quantum computer has been used to simulate a holographic wormhole for the first time. In this case, the word holographic indicates a way to simplify physics problems involving both quantum mechanics and gravity, not a literal hologram, so simulations like this could help us understand how to combine those two concepts into a theory ofquantum gravity perhaps the toughest and most important problem in physics right now.

Both quantum mechanics, which governs the very small, and general relativity, which describes gravity and the very large, are extraordinarily successful in their respective realms, but these two fundamental theories do not fit together. This incompatibility is particularly apparent in areas where both theories should apply, such as in and around black holes.

These areas are extraordinarily complicated, and that is where holography comes in. It allows physicists to create a less complex system that is equivalent to the original, similar to how a two-dimensional hologram can show three-dimensional details.

Maria Spiropulu at the California Institute of Technology and her colleagues used Googles Sycamore quantum computer to simulate a holographic wormhole a tunnel through space-time with black holes at either end. They simulated a type of wormhole through which a message could theoretically pass, and examined the process by which such a message could make that journey.

In a real wormhole, that journey would be largely mediated by gravity, but the holographic wormhole uses quantum effects as a substitute for gravity to remove relativity from the equation and simplify the system. That means that when the message passes through the wormhole, it is actually undergoing quantum teleportation a process by which information about quantum states can be sent between two distant but quantum entangled particles. For this simulation, the message was a signal containing a quantum state a qubit in a superposition of both 1 and 0.

The signal scrambles, it becomes mush, it becomes chaos, and then it gets put back together and appears immaculate on the other side, says Spiropulu. Even on this tiny system we could prop up the wormhole and observe just what we expected. This occurs because of the quantum entanglement between the two black holes, which allows the information falling into one end of the wormhole to be preserved at the other end. That process is part of why a quantum computer is useful for this type of experiment.

The simulation used only nine quantum bits, or qubits, so it was very low-resolution. Like a picture of a bird taken from far away, this had the same general shape as the object it represented, but the simulation had to be carefully adjusted to display the characteristics of a wormhole. If you want to see this as a wormhole, there are a number of parallels, but its definitely a matter of interpretation, says Adam Brown at Stanford University in California, who was not involved in this work.

Using a more powerful quantum computer could help bring the image into focus. This is just a baby wormhole, a first step to test the theories of quantum gravity, and as the quantum computers scale up we have to start using bigger quantum systems to try to test the bigger ideas in quantum gravity, says Spiropulu.

That is crucial because some theories of quantum gravity are difficult or even impossible to completely understand using only classical computing. We know that quantum gravity is very confusing, the theory can be very hard to extract predictions from, and the dream would be to do something on a quantum computer that tells you things you dont already know about quantum gravity, says Brown. This is not that this is a very small quantum computer, so everything about it is completely possible to simulate on a laptop without the fan even starting.

But the simulations similarityto a real wormhole hints that it may be possible to use quantum computers to formulate and test ideas about quantum gravity, and maybe eventually to understand it.

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A quantum computer has simulated a wormhole for the first time

Two years ago, we issued our first draft of that map to take our first steps: our ambitious three-year plan to develop quantum computing technology, called our development roadmap. Since then, our exploration has revealed new discoveries, gaining us insights that have allowed us to refine that map and travel even further than wed planned. Today, were excited to present to you an update to that map: our plan to weave quantum processors, CPUs, and GPUs into a compute fabric capable of solving problems beyond the scope of classical resources alone.

Our goal is to build quantum-centric supercomputers. The quantum-centric supercomputer will incorporate quantum processors, classical processors, quantum communication networks, and classical networks, all working together to completely transform how we compute. In order to do so, we need to solve the challenge of scaling quantum processors, develop a runtime environment for providing quantum calculations with increased speed and quality, and introduce a serverless programming model to allow quantum and classical processors to work together frictionlessly.

But first: where did this journey begin? We put the first quantum computer on the cloud in 2016, and in 2017, we introduced an open source software development kit for programming these quantum computers, called Qiskit. We debuted the first integrated quantum computer system, called the IBM Quantum System One, in 2019, then in 2020 we released our development roadmap showing how we planned to mature quantum computers into a commercial technology.

As part of that roadmap, in 2021 we released our IBM Quantum broke the 100qubit processor barrier in 2021. Read more about Eagle.127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle processor and launched Qiskit Runtime, a runtime environment of co-located classical systems and quantum systems built to support containerized execution of quantum circuits at speed and scale. The first version gave a In 2021, we demonstrated a 120x speedup in simulating molecules thanks to a host of improvements, including the ability to run quantum programs entirely on the cloud with Qiskit Runtime.120x speedup on a research-grade quantum workload. Earlier this year, we launched the Qiskit Runtime Services with primitives: pre-built programs that allow algorithm developers easy access to the outputs of quantum computations without requiring intricate understanding of the hardware.

Now, our updated map will show us the way forward.

In order to benefit from our world-leading hardware, we need to develop the software and infrastructure so that our users can take advantage of it. Different users have different needs and experiences, and we need to build tools for each persona: kernel developers, algorithm developers, and model developers.

For our kernel developers those who focus on making faster and better quantum circuits on real hardware well be delivering and maturing Qiskit Runtime. First, we will add dynamic circuits, which allow for feedback and feedforward of quantum measurements to change or steer the course of future operations. Dynamic circuits extend what the hardware can do by reducing circuit depth, by allowing for alternative models of constructing circuits, and by enabling parity checks of the fundamental operations at the heart of quantum error correction.

To continue to increase the speed of quantum programs in 2023, we plan to bring threads to the Qiskit Runtime, allowing us to operate parallelized quantum processors, including automatically distributing work that is trivially parallelizable. In 2024 and 2025, well introduce error mitigation and suppression techniques into Qiskit Runtime so that users can focus on improving the quality of the results obtained from quantum hardware. These techniques will help lay the groundwork for quantum error correction in the future.

However, we have work to do if we want quantum will find broader use, such as among our algorithm developers those who use quantum circuits within classical routines in order to make applications that demonstrate quantum advantage.

For our algorithm developers, well be maturing the Qiskit Runtime Services primitives. The unique power of quantum computers is their ability to generate non-classical probability distributions at their outputs. Consequently, much of quantum algorithm development is related to sampling from, or estimating properties of these distributions. The primitives are a collection of core functions to easily and efficiently work with these distributions.

Typically, algorithm developers require breaking problems into a series of smaller quantum and classical programs, with an orchestration layer to stitch the data streams together into an overall workflow. We call the infrastructure responsible for this stitching To bring value to our users, we need our programing model to fit seamlessly into their workflows, where they can focus on their code and not have to worry about the deployment and infrastructure. We need a serverless architecture.Quantum Serverless. Quantum Serverless centers around enabling flexible quantum-classical resource combinations without requiring developers to be hardware and infrastructure experts, while allocating just those computing resources a developer needs when they need them. In 2023, we plan to integrate Quantum Serverless into our core software stack in order to enable core functionality such as circuit knitting.

What is circuit knitting? Circuit knitting techniques break larger circuits into smaller pieces to run on a quantum computer, and then knit the results back together using a classical computer.

Earlier this year, we demonstrated a circuit knitting method called entanglement forging to double the size of the quantum systems we could address with the same number of qubits. However, circuit knitting requires that we can run lots of circuits split across quantum resources and orchestrated with classical resources. We think that parallelized quantum processors with classical communication will be able to bring about quantum advantage even sooner, and a recent paper suggests a path forward.

With all of these pieces in place, well soon have quantum computing ready for our model developers those who develop quantum applications to find solutions to complex problems in their specific domains. We think by next year, well begin prototyping quantum software applications for specific use cases. Well begin to define these services with our first test case machine learning working with partners to accelerate the path toward useful quantum software applications. By 2025, we think model developers will be able to explore quantum applications in machine learning, optimization, natural sciences, and beyond.

Of course, we know that central to quantum computing is the hardware that makes running quantum programs possible. We also know that a quantum computer capable of reaching its full potential could require hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of high-quality qubits, so we must figure out how to scale these processors up. With the 433-qubit Osprey processor and the 1,121-qubit Condor processors slated for release in 2022 and 2023, respectively we will test the limits of single-chip processors and controlling large-scale quantum systems integrated into the IBM Quantum System Two. But we dont plan to realize large-scale quantum computers on a giant chip. Instead, were developing ways to link processors together into a modular system capable of scaling without physics limitations.

To tackle scale, we are going to introduce three distinct approaches. First, in 2023, we are introducing Heron: a 133-qubit processor with control hardware that allows for real-time classical communication between separate processors, enabling the knitting techniques described above. The second approach is to extend the size of quantum processors by enabling multi-chip processors. Crossbill, a 408 qubit processor, will be made from three chips connected by chip-to-chip couplers that allow for a continuous realization of the heavy-hex lattices across multiple chips. The goal of this architecture is to make users feel as if theyre just using just one, larger processor.

Along with scaling through modular connection of multi-chip processors, in 2024, we also plan to introduce our third approach: quantum communication between processors to support quantum parallelization. We will introduce the 462-qubit Flamingo processor with a built-in quantum communication link, and then release a demonstration of this architecture by linking together at least three Flamingo processors into a 1,386-qubit system. We expect that this link will result in slower and lower-fidelity gates across processors. Our software needs to be aware of this architecture consideration in order for our users to best take advantage of this system.

Our learning about scale will bring all of these advances together in order to realize their full potential. So, in 2025, well introduce the Kookaburra processor. Kookaburra will be a 1,386 qubit multi-chip processor with a quantum communication link. As a demonstration, we will connect three Kookaburra chips into a 4,158-qubit system connected by quantum communication for our users.

The combination of these technologies classical parallelization, multi-chip quantum processors, and quantum parallelization gives us all the ingredients we need to scale our computers to wherever our roadmap takes. By 2025, we will have effectively removed the main boundaries in the way of scaling quantum processors up with modular quantum hardware and the accompanying control electronics and cryogenic infrastructure. Pushing modularity in both our software and our hardware will be key to achieving scales well ahead of our competitors, and were excited to deliver it to you.

Our updated roadmap takes us as far as 2025 but development wont stop there. By then, we will have removed some of the biggest roadblocks in the way of scaling quantum hardware, while developing the tools and techniques capable of integrating quantum into computing workflows. This sea change will be the equivalent of replacing paper maps with GPS satellites as we navigate into the quantum future.

This sea change will be the equivalent of replacing paper maps with GPS satellites.

We arent just thinking about quantum computers, though. Were trying to induce a paradigm shift in computing overall. For many years, CPU-centric supercomputers were societys processing workhorse, with IBM serving as a key developer of these systems. In the last few years, weve seen the emergence of AI-centric supercomputers, where CPUs and GPUs work together in giant systems to tackle AI-heavy workloads.

Now, IBM is ushering in the age of the quantum-centric supercomputer, where quantum resources QPUs will be woven together with CPUs and GPUs into a compute fabric. We think that the quantum-centric supercomputer will serve as an essential technology for those solving the toughest problems, those doing the most ground-breaking research, and those developing the most cutting-edge technology.

We may be on track, but exploring uncharted territory isnt easy. Were attempting to rewrite the rules of computing in just a few years. Following our roadmap will require us to solve some incredibly tough engineering and physics problems.

But were feeling pretty confident weve gotten this far, after all, with the new help of our world-leading team of researchers, the IBM Quantum Network, the Qiskit open source community, and our growing community of kernel, algorithm, and model developers. Were glad to have you all along for the ride as we continue onward.

Quantum Chemistry: Few fields will get value from quantum computing as quickly as chemistry. Even todays supercomputers struggle to model a single molecule in its full complexity. We study algorithms designed to do what those machines cant.

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Welcome to Quantiki, the world's leading portal for everyone involved in quantum information science. No matter if you are a researcher, a student or an enthusiast of quantum theory, this is the place you are going to find useful and enjoyable! While here on Quantiki you can: browse our content, including fascinating and educative articles, then create your own account and log in to gain more editorial possibilities.

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Classical computing is reaching its limit. Thus, there is a need to revolutionize the current form of computing. Towards this end, quantum computing is one of the promising computing paradigms. However, programming quantum computers differ significantly from classical computing due to novel features of quantum computing, such as superposition and entanglement. Thus, the Art, Science, and Engineering of Quantum Programming differ from classical programming.

Monday, April 17, 2023 to Wednesday, April 19, 2023

We are proud to be hosting the next Quantum Computing Theory in Practice (QCTIP) conference at Jesus College in Cambridge on 17-19 April 2023.

The conference will take place over 3 days, and together with our keynote speakers, poster sessions and invited talks, we will take stock of the newest developments in the field and map out the future of quantum computing. More details and further updates can be found at https://registration.qctip.com/qctip-2023

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

We invite you to attend (online-only) Episode XLVI of the Warsaw Quantum Computing Group meetup!

On 15.12 at 18:00 UTC+1, Piotr Gawron will give a lecture on "Kernels, tensors, matrices and reservoirs the wild world of (Quantum) Machine Learning".

If you are interested, sign up by 14.12 (EOD UTC+1):https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQfT2IK6twbiZJ8TIRYuQfyvUc2dHq...

The JARA Institute for Quantum Information (PGI-11) of the Juelich Research Centre in Germany offers at least one PhD position. The positions are funded by German and international collaborative projects. The research will focus on modeling superconducting devices, in particular qubits and resonators for quantum information and simulation applications, with the aim to understand and mitigate error sources. Comparison with experimental data will be integral part of the research.

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Quantiki | Quantum Information Portal and Wiki