In a small laboratory in a secluded village about 50 miles north of New York City, intricate pipelines and electronics are wrapped around the ceiling. This seemingly messy device is a computer. It is different from any computer in the world, but a milestone device that is about to create history.
The theory of quantum computers runs much faster than any traditional supercomputer. Such computers may make it possible to simulate the physical state at the atomic level, so that new material technologies can be reshaped; they can also redefine network security by infinitely solving any existing encryption algorithms; they can even Enhance the level of artificial intelligence by effectively processing massive amounts of data.
However, until now, after decades of gradual development, researchers have finally become infinitely close to creating a true quantum computer. Its powerful function is enough to defeat any computer in the traditional sense. This is the landmark "quantum hegemony" ( Quantum supremacy). At the moment, Google has been a leader in this field, and companies such as Intel and Microsoft are also making progress, and startups with strong financial support, including Rigetti Computing, IonQ and Quantum Circuits, are catching up.
But in the field of quantum computing, no one can match IBM. As early as 50 years ago, IBM's achievements in materials science laid the foundation for the computer revolution. That's why I came to IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center last October to try to find answers to these questions: What are the benefits of quantum computers? Can we build a practical, reliable quantum computer?
Why do we need quantum computers?
The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is located in York-town Heights, USA, and the exterior looks a bit like the UFO imagination of the 1960s. The building was designed by the new futuristic architect Eero Saarinen and built during the heyday of the IBM mainframe business. At the time, IBM was the world's largest computer company. Within ten years of its completion, the research center became the fifth largest company in the world, behind Ford and General Electric.
Although the countryside can be seen in the corridors of the buildings, all offices have no windows. I saw it in one of the secret rooms in one of the bedrooms I met Charles Bennett. Bennett, now in his 70s, is white and surrounded by old computer monitors and various chemical models. He recalls that quantum computing is just as it happened yesterday.
Illustration: Charles Bennett of the IBM Research Center is one of the founders of quantum information theory, and his work at IBM has created a theoretical basis for quantum computers.
When Bennett joined IBM in 1972, the development of quantum physics has been around for half a century, but the entire computational science still relies on classical physics and Claude Elwood Shannon. The theory of information mathematics developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1950s. Shannon defines the amount of information based on the number of "bits" required to store the data (this is a term that he is popular but has not determined). These bits, which are binary codes 0 and 1, are the basis of all conventional computational sciences.
A year after arriving at Yorktown Heights, Bennett helped lay the foundations of quantum information theory, which would challenge traditional computing science. It is based on the special properties of objects on the atomic scale. At this microscopic scale, particles can exhibit many states at a time (for example, many different locations), that is, "superimposed" states. Two particles may also exhibit "quantum entanglement", so changing the state of one particle may affect another particle instantaneously.
Bennett and others realized that with the help of quantum phenomena, several time-consuming and even impossible calculations can be performed efficiently. Quantum computers store information in so-called qubits, which are qubits. Quantum bits can exist in a superposition of 1's and 0's, and quantum entanglement and quantum interference can be used to find solutions for exponential big data calculations. But it is still difficult to compare the quantum computing power of quantum computers compared to classical computers, but roughly speaking, quantum computers with only a few hundred qubits can perform more computations simultaneously than the number of atoms in the known universe. .
In the summer of 1981, IBM and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology organized a landmark event called the First Conference on the Physics of Computation. The conference was held at the Endicott House, a French-style building not far from the MIT campus.
As can be seen from a photo of Bennett during the conference, several of the most influential figures in the history of computational science and quantum physics attended the conference. These include Konrad Zuse, who developed the first programmable computer, and Richard Phillips Feynman, the main contributor to quantum theory. Feynman gave a keynote speech at the conference, which mentioned the idea of ​​using quantum effects for calculations. "The biggest help for the development of quantum information theory is Feynman," Bennett told me. "He said, 'Nature is quantum, damn! So if we want to simulate it, we need a quantum computer.'"
IBM's quantum computer, the most promising computer in existence, is located in the lobby below the Bennett office. This machine is used to create and manipulate the basic elements in a quantum computer: the qubits that store information.
The gap between dreams and reality
IBM's quantum computers take advantage of the quantum phenomena that occur in superconducting materials. For example, sometimes electrons in a superconducting material move both clockwise and counterclockwise, which is a quantum phenomenon. IBM's quantum computers use superconducting circuits in which two different states of electromagnetic energy make up qubits.
The superconducting method has key advantages. The hardware can be manufactured using existing sophisticated manufacturing methods and the entire system can be controlled by a conventional computer. Qubits in superconducting circuits are easier to operate and less sensitive than individual photons or ions.
Graphic: IBM connects quantum computers to the cloud
In IBM's quantum lab, engineers are working on a computer with 50 qubits. You can run a simple quantum computer simulation system on a normal computer, but it is impossible to simulate up to 50 qubits. This means that IBM is theoretically approaching quantum computers to solve the singularity of problems that traditional computers cannot solve: in other words, quantum hegemony.
But as IBM researchers tell you, quantum hegemony is an elusive concept. You need 50 qubits to function properly, but in fact the quantum computer is plagued by errors that need to be corrected. It is very difficult to maintain the state of the quantum bits for any length of time; they tend to "return" or lose their subtle quantum properties, just as the smoke circle will spread out in the slightest airflow. The more quantum bits, the more difficult it is.
"If you have 50 or 100 qubits that work and you can achieve complete error correction, then you can do unprecedented calculations, any calculations that traditional computers can't replicate," said Yale University professor and founder of Quantum Circuits. Robert Schoelkopf said, "Another problem with quantum computing is that the way it goes wrong is simply exponential."
Another noteworthy issue is that even the perfect quantum computer function is not obvious. It does not simply speed up task processing; in fact, for many calculations, quantum computers perform more slowly than traditional machines. To date, only a few specially designed algorithms have significant advantages in quantum computers. Even for these algorithms, the advantages are often short-lived. The most famous quantum algorithm is an algorithm developed by Peter Shor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to calculate the problem of pyrolysis factor decomposition. Many common cryptographic schemes rely on the reality that traditional computers are difficult to implement. But cryptography can be adaptively adjusted to create new types of encrypted code that do not rely on factorization.
Illustration: The environment of the chip in IBM quantum computer is reduced to 15 Kelvin
Even though it is close to the historical critical point of 50 qubits, IBM's own researchers are still keen to eliminate the hype about quantum computers. Looking out at a table in the hallway is a lush lawn. Here I met Jay Gambetta, a tall, temperate Australian who studied quantum algorithms and potential applications for IBM quantum computers. “We are at this unique stage,†he said, carefully wording. “Our equipment is much more complicated than the simulation you are doing on a traditional computer, but its accuracy is beyond control because you are not very clear. How to deal with quantum algorithms."
What is given to IBM researchers is the fact that imperfect quantum computers may also be useful.
Gambetta and other researchers have already noted the application that Feynman envisioned in 1981. Chemical reactions and material properties depend on the interaction between atoms and molecules. These interactions are governed by quantum phenomena. Quantum computers can at least theoretically simulate those models that conventional methods cannot handle.
Last year, IBM researcher Gambetta and his colleagues used a seven-qubit machine to simulate the precise structure of the hydrazine. Although there are only three atoms, it is the most complex molecule modeled by the dosing subsystem. Ultimately, researchers may use quantum computers to design more efficient solar cells, more effective drugs, or catalysts that convert sunlight into clean fuels.
There is still a long way to go to achieve these goals. However, Gambetta says people will be able to get valuable results from an error-prone quantum machine paired with a classic computer.
From the dream of physicists to the nightmare of engineers
"The positive role of quantum computer concept hype is to realize that quantum computing is actually true," said MIT professor Isaac Chuang, "it is no longer a physicist's dream." It is a nightmare for engineers."
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Zhuang worked at IBM in Almaden, Calif., where he led the development of early quantum computers. Although Zhuang is no longer engaged in related work, he believes that we are at a huge starting point - quantum computing will eventually play a role in artificial intelligence.
But he also suspects that subversion will not really come until a new generation of students and hackers start using practical quantum computers. Quantum computers not only require different programming languages, but also require fundamentally different ways of thinking to program. As Gambetta said: "In fact, we don't know what the meaning of 'Hello, world' is on quantum computers."
We are beginning to discover the essence. In 2016, IBM connected a small quantum computer to the cloud. Users can run simple programs on the cloud using a programming tool called QISKit; thousands of people, from academic researchers to elementary school students, have developed QISKit programs that run basic quantum algorithms. Now Google and other companies are also networking their quantum computers. Now you can't do a lot with quantum computers, but at least try something that might happen.
Entrepreneurial communities are also increasingly excited about quantum computers. Shortly after watching IBM's quantum computer, I went to the University of Toronto Business School to participate in a competition for Quantum Startup. A group of startup entrepreneurs present their ideas to a group of professors and investors. A company wants to use quantum computers to simulate financial markets. The other is to use quantum computers to design new proteins. There is also a desire to develop more advanced artificial intelligence systems. Everything is possible, but the only thing that can be confirmed is that each team's business is based on a revolutionary technology that is almost non-existent. Almost no one is afraid of this fact.
If the first quantum computer finds that the actual use is too slow, then this enthusiasm will gradually dissipate. Those who really understand the experts who really understand quantum computers such as Bennett and Zhuang, their best guess is that the first practical quantum computers have been born for a few years. At the same time, it is also assumed that managing and manipulating a large number of quantum bits is not a tricky issue.
However, the experts still hold hope. When I asked Zhuang, when my two-year-old son grew up, what the world would look like, he smiled and responded, "Maybe your child will have a toolkit that can develop quantum computers."
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