Researchers at Oxford Ionics say their chip for a quantum computer could be produced at “large scale”, meaning the first practical quantum computer is just three years away.
Granted, this isn’t the first announcement of a breakthrough in quantum computing, and it certainly won’t be the last. In early April, we reported that a major breakthrough had been achieved at Microsoft, specifically by using a new “noise-cancelling method” to measure qubits. Qubits are the particles that can be either a 1 or a 0, and everything in between.
However, we can take these interim reports seriously, because they give a good impression of what is being developed in the meantime and how far we have come. However, a year was never mentioned, until today. “This is an incredibly exciting moment for our team and for the positive impact that quantum computing will have on society as a whole,” says Tom Harty, founder and CTO at Oxford Ionics against the BBC.
Within three years?
According to the research lab, we are three years away from developing a quantum computer that can be produced on a “large” scale. So far, the latter part has been a problem, because the technology is not reliable enough.
However, the company has now found a new method to “hold atoms (ions) in a small space using electromagnetic fields”, which could be crucial for any ‘upscaling’ in the future.
Not yet for your desk
However, don’t expect such a new quantum computer to be on your desk within that time – let alone in your pocket. Mass production in this context could be understood as ‘reproducible on a relatively large scale’. Initially, mainly research centers will want to use the computer to perform complex calculations that usually involve gigantic amounts of data.
For comparison, a quantum computer should be able to solve such a complex task in just a few minutes, while today’s most powerful computers would take years to do so, if they could do it at all.
Now we just need to find the right question
The most challenging aspect of quantum computers has so far not been building them, but rather asking the right questions. Although the computers are capable of answering the most complex questions, concrete use cases are still pending. Professor Kissinger of the University of Oxford therefore states that “we still do not fully understand the full potential of large-scale quantum computers”.
The question is therefore mainly how we will see the quantum computer in our daily lives. The short, and least exciting, answer: not really. The technology will eventually be used to make new scientific discoveries, which were simply unthinkable until now due to our current limitations. And we will certainly see these developments around us.
Also watch our explanatory video about quantum computers and stay informed with our newsletter.
Source: www.bright.nl
