HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING A quantum leap
QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY IS GOING THROUGH A PERIOD OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT, WITH SEVERAL TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE ADOPTION OF THIS EMERGING COMPUTING FRAMEWORK, FINDS ROBERT ROE
Advancing the technology requires
larger quantum computers that can be scaled up and integrated with the cloud or existing classical computing systems. Scale is, therefore, of paramount importance in delivering real-world scientific insight. There are many ways to build these
systems, depending on the type of technology used. Universal Quantum, for example, is trying to develop the world’s first million qubit quantum computer using a technology called ‘trapped ion’. Dr Luuk Earl, quantum engineer at
One of the biggest stumbling blocks in the development of quantum hardware is with the
qubits themselves. This varies depending on the underlying technology used to create the qubits, but they are often error-prone and difficult to control, making quantum computers unstable and highly complex systems.
4 Scientific Computing World Summer 2022
Universal Quantum, highlighted the path the company has taken since its inception in 2018. ‘It’s a company that spun out from a research group at the University of Sussex. Two senior scientists, Professor Winfried Hensinger and Dr Sebastian Weidt, decided that the research they were doing was promising for quantum computing. They formed this company with a bit of venture capital funding.
‘The real aim is to make quantum
computers that can solve real-world interesting problems,’ Earl continued. ‘That is the main difference between other quantum computing companies and us at the moment. We’re just focusing on that big-scale stuff. We’re not interested in making toy models that can do some interesting science but aren’t going to impact humanity. We’re focused on that point where quantum computing is useful to everyone, which is a big challenge.’ And that is why a million qubit system is such an important goal, as this is the point at which some scientists and researchers believe that quantum computing systems will start to impact science and engineering. Earl noted that scientists at Universal Quantum had done some modelling of the resources required to solve particular problems. ‘One of them is synthesising a particular chemical for fertiliser. They’ve done some simulations of how many resources you
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