The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been using lasers to super-cool atoms to create the world’s most accurate atomic clocks using quantum mechanical principles. Now they have extended that research, showing how to use lasers to control the quantum properties of entire molecular ions, clearing the way to future quantum computers.

The NIST solution, published today in Nature magazine, enables the quantum logic operations that drive their latest atomic clock with lasers to control the molecules of future quantum computers

Since the technique uses the lasers to super-cool the molecules, their probing and quantum manipulation is so gentle that it does not disturb their delicate quantum states. So far, they have been able to transfer that state from one molecule to another, via a intermediary atom, and hope to construct more sophisticated architectures that can amplify signals, measure the “shape” of electrons, boost control of chemical reactions and other next-generation quantum information processing steps.

An international team comprised of researchers from the University of Sussex, Google, Aarhus University, RIKEN, and Siegen University recently unveiled what they say is the first practical blueprint for how to build a quantum computer.

The team asserted that once built, the computer would have the potential to answer many questions in science; create new, lifesaving medicines; solve the most mind-boggling scientific problems; unravel the yet unknown mysteries of the furthest reaches of deepest space; and solve some problems that an ordinary computer would take billions of years to compute. This will be possible because of a new invention permitting actual quantum bits to be transmitted between individual quantum computing modules in order to obtain a fully modular large-scale machine capable of reaching nearly arbitrary large computational processing powers, they said.

First ever blueprint unveiled to construct a large scale quantum computer
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/index?id=38900

For D-Wave, the path to quantum computers being widely accepted is similar to the history of today’s computers. The first chips came more than 30 years ago, and Microsoft’s Basic expanded the software infrastructure around PCs.

Quantum computers are a new type of computer that can be significantly faster than today’s PCs. They are still decades away from replacing PCs and going mainstream, but more advanced hardware and use models are still emerging.

D-Wave is the only company selling a quantum computer. It sold its first system in 2011 and is now pushing the speed limits with a new quantum computer called the D-Wave 2000Q, which has 2,000 qubits.

The 2000Q is twice the size of its current 1,000-qubit D-Wave 2X

The 2000Q is thousands of times faster than its predecessor

D-Wave’s quantum computers are being already used by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Google, NASA, and Lockheed Martin. D-Wave’s goal is to upgrade all those systems.

The ultimate goal is to develop a universal quantum computer that could run all computing applications, much like PCs, but researchers agree that type of quantum computer still decades away.

There are many types of quantum computers under development, and D-Wave’s system is based on the paradigm of quantum annealing. The computer delivers possible outcomes to a problem by deploying a magnetic field to perform qubit operations.

The annealer was a quick way to quantum computing
The company’s view is similar to using different types of chips like CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs for different workloads, with each of them having their own benefits, Brownell said.

IBM is working on a different type of quantum computer based on the gate model, which is considered advanced but more complicated to achieve. Microsoft is trying to make a quantum computer based on a new topology and a particle that is yet to be discovered.

Turning quantum systems from novelties into useful technologies
In what is believed to be a major achievement that could help bring the strange and powerful world of quantum technology closer to reality, University of Sydney researchers have demonstrated the ability to “see” the future of quantum systems, and used that knowledge to preempt their demise.

The applications of quantum-enabled technologies are compelling and already demonstrating significant impacts – especially in the realm of sensing and metrology — and the potential to build exceptionally powerful quantum computers using quantum bits, or qubits, is driving investment from the world’s largest companies.

Richard Feynmann noted more than once that complementarity is the central mystery that lies at the heart of quantum theory. Complementarity rules the world of the very small… the quantum world, and surmises that particles and waves are indistinguishable from one other. That they are one and the same. That it is nonsensical to think of something, or even try to visualize that something as an individual “particle” or a “wave.” That the particle/wave/whatever-you-want-to-call-it is in this sort of superposition, where it is neither particle nor wave. It is only the act of trying to measure what it is that disengages the cloaking device and the particle or wave nature is revealed. Look for a particle, and you’ll find a particle. Look for a wave instead, and instead you’ll find a wave.

Complementarity arises from the limits placed on measuring things in the quantum world with classical measuring devices. It turns out that when you try to measure things that are really really really small, some issues come up… some fundamental issues. For instance, you can’t really know exactly where a sub-atomic particle is located in space. You can only know where it is within a certain probability, and this probability is distributed through space in the form of a wave. Understanding uncertainty in measurement is key to avoiding the disbelief that hits you when thinking about complementarity.

One challenge to building optical computing devices and some quantum computers is finding a source of single photons. There are a lot of different techniques, but many of them aren’t very practical, requiring lots of space and cryogenic cooling. Recently, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem developed a scalable photon source on a semiconductor die.

Using nanocrystals of semiconductor material, the new technique emits single photons, and in a predictable direction.

Compact, efficient single photon source that operates at ambient temperatures on a chip
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160504092649.htm

Quantum computing – that almost magical technology some say is here already, while others claim – like fusion power – that it will always be five (not fusion’s 50) years in the future. It’s one thing to read theory and predictions, but what does hands-on QC look like?

Well, I had the privilege of touring the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) recently, so allow me to share some impressions and photos.