The microprocessors in use today are absolutely amazing on their own; it seemed, and for good reason, that there was little we could do to improve them. If something went to the best microprocessors, it would have to be something from a totally different league, which is just hard. But then, the idea of quantum computing came up, and everyone started rubbing their hands together.
Instead of using the 1 and 0 (binary) computation that traditional computers use, the quantum computer would use superpositions, states of matter that can be both 1 and 0. In a way, the “trick” it uses is to perform calculations on all superposition states at once; That way, if you have a quantum bit (or a qubit), it doesn’t make much of a difference, but as the number of qubits increases, performance increases considerably.
The number that researchers generally approve of as being necessary for a competitive quantum processor is 100, so every improvement is significant. “It’s very exciting that we’re now at a point where we can start talking about the architecture that we’re going to use if we do a quantum processor,” Erik Lucero of the University of California, Santa Barbara, told the lecture.
The point is that as the number of qubits increases, you have to make all sorts of adjustments and improvements, because the delicate quantum states that are created need to be manipulated, moved, and stored without being destroyed. “It’s a problem that I’ve been thinking about for three or four years, how to turn off the interactions,” said UCSB’s John Martinis, who led the research. Now we’ve figured it out, and that’s great, but there are a lot of other things we have to do.”
The solution came in what the team called the RezQu architecture, basically a different model for creating a quantum computer. This architecture has a big advantage compared to others: it is scalable, so you can already start thinking about creating larger qubit computers and with relatively low technologies. “There are competing architectures, like ion traps — trapping ions with lasers, but the complexity is that you have to have a huge room full of doctors just to run your lasers,” Lucero said. There are still many, many details to discover, but the direction of the investigation is good, as is the speed.
“We are right at the forefront of having a quantum processor,” he said. “For years an entire community has blossomed just looking at the idea that, once we have a quantum computer, what are we going to do with it?” If you ask me, it would be a welcome upgrade for top-tier tech as well as average computer users; there is still a long way to go, but we are getting there.