Ling Ge explains quantum computing

[Harkonnen]

Nobel-prize winner Richard Feynman famously remarked that “nobody understands quantum mechanics.” Maybe not, but luckily Tencent Chief European Representative and Maki House LP Ling Ge knows more than the average Joe — she’s offered to share why we’re closer than ever to a breakthrough in quantum computing and what that means for us.

Q: Let’s start off simple: what is quantum computing?
Quantum computing involves leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics — using qubits, superposition and entanglement — to develop exponentially more powerful computers than our current supercomputers. While computers use bits to store information in ones or zeros, quantum computers rely on quantum bits or qubits, that can be set to zero, one, or any possible combination of zero and one at the same time. This provides a massive boost in computing power — in fact, quantum computers will be able to perform tasks that would take supercomputers thousands of years in just seconds.

Q: Why is there hype around quantum computing?
Quantum computing has been described as the major technological innovation that will change the world of computer science. Thanks to its ability to solve increasingly complex problems and crunch unimaginable amounts of data at lightning speed, quantum computing is expected to bring about breakthroughs in several fields of applications such as cryptography, medicine, and deep learning. No wonder why in recent years investors have invested money into companies exploring quantum computing — a study by Nature found that in 2017 and 2018, quantum firms raised at least $450 million in Private funding.

Q: A lot of new technologies are hyped and described as “revolutionary.” When will we see these promises fulfilled for quantum computing?
Quantum physicists are notoriously tired of hearing this question, as the typical response is that breakthroughs — let alone applications — are years, if not decades away. However, earlier this year we reached a major milestone, when Google reportedly achieved Quantum supremacy by demonstrating for the first time that a quantum computer is capable of performing a task beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputers. Google’s quantum system performed a random-number generation task in 200 seconds — a job that would take the fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to complete. Then again, Quantum supremacy is still under debate as IBM wrote a paper in October 2019 saying it would only take 2.5 days for a classical computer to complete the computation in Google’s quantum paper.

Q: So these are the first steps — what can we expect next?
This early era of quantum computing we may soon be entering is referred to by scientists as the NISQ era, short for Noisy Intermediate Scale Qubits (NISQ). Reaching Quantum supremacy demands a certain number of physical qubits on a quantum chip, but the quality of these qubits must also be sufficiently high.
This is where things get a bit tricky, but hang in there.
Real, physical qubits — such as trapped ion or an electron spin — that are used in quantum computers experience external interference and other real-world problems that result in calculation errors. Managing these errors requires adding more qubits on the chip to run error correction code. Prof John Preskill from Caltech, a quantum computing pioneer and inventor of the phrase “quantum supremacy”, has argued that we are currently entering the NISQ era, where intermediate scale quantum computers (comprised of 50 to a few hundred physical qubits) will still be “noisy” — in other words, the quality of these qubits will still be relatively low.
The long-term goal for engineers is to reach Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing, where the quality of these qubits can be increased and errors driven to arbitrarily low levels. The Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing era is where we’ll see the most applications and full benefits, but even with NISQ devices, we can start to gain early insights and even some practical applications.

Q: What industries should be the most interested in quantum computing, where are the most promising applications?
As said, quantum computing has the potential to impact a broad spectrum of different industries — however, I have three promising areas I’m particularly excited about.

New materials: The global spend on material design is approximately $40bn, but the research process is highly dependent on trial and error lab processes — and thus, highly inefficient. Quantum computers can aid in the development of new materials with advanced qualities such as improved power transmission or solar energy capture, which can then revolutionize fields such as energy storage, construction, advanced electronics, and high-end manufacturing.
Sustainability and energy consumption: Many of our current chemical development processes are highly energy intensive — for example, some estimates say that using the Haber-Bosch synthesis process to produce ammonia consumes 1–2% of global energy use and requires extremely high temperatures and pressures. However, biological plants perform the same process naturally at room temperature. Understanding at a quantum level how these chemical processes operate will allow us to replicate the process artificially and develop entirely new catalysts. Improving the efficiency of chemical processes such as these presents various opportunities for sustainability and energy consumption.

Human health: The modern drug discovery process is extremely complex and expensive: bringing a new drug to the market can cost $2bn and take over 10 years. The drug-development process involves identifying molecules that exhibit desired behaviors when in contact with biological targets such as proteins. Quantum computers can be used to simulate these bio-molecular processes, speeding up the discovery and development of new drugs for areas such as cancer, neurodegenerative disease or heart disease.

Q: What are some promising companies developing quantum technologies? Who should investors keep a keen eye on?
Rigetti Computing, IonQ, and IQM are among the companies I’m following with interest!

https://medium.com/maki-vc/qubits-ni...d-77e4856c98a2

[Harkonnen]

Miniaturization of Quantum Computers Possible With New Electronic Cooling Technology

VTT researchers have successfully demonstrated a new electronic refrigeration technology that can enable major leaps in the development of quantum computers. Present quantum computers require extremely complicated and large cooling infrastructure that is based on mixture of different isotopes of helium. The new electronic cooling technology could replace these cryogenic liquid mixtures and enable miniaturization of quantum computers.
Researchers at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have developed a new purely electrical refrigeration method where cooling and thermal isolation operate effectively through the same point like junction. In the experiment, the researchers suspended a piece of silicon from such junctions and refrigerated the object by feeding electrical current from one junction to another through the piece. The current lowered the thermodynamic temperature of the silicon object as much as 40 % from that of the surroundings. This discovery can be used, for example, in the miniaturization of future quantum computers as it can simplify the required cooling infrastructure significantly. The discovery has been published in Science Advances on April 10, 2020.

“We expect that this newly discovered electronic cooling method could be used in several applications from the miniaturization of quantum computers to ultra-sensitive radiation sensors of the security field,” says Research Professor Mika Prunnila from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
New opportunities for science and business
Several sensitive electronic and optical devices require low temperature operation. One timely example is quantum computer built from superconductive circuits, which require refrigeration close to the absolute zero of thermodynamic temperature (-273.15 °C).
Nowadays, superconductive quantum computers are cooled by so-called dilution refrigerators, which are multi-stage coolers based on pumping of cryogenic liquids. The complexity of this refrigerator arises, especially, from the coldest stage, the operation of which is based on pumping of a mixture of different isotopes of helium. Even though modern dilution refrigerators are commercial technology they are still expensive and large scientific instruments. The electronic cooling technology develop by the VTT researchers could replace the complex coldest parts and, thereby, lead to significant reductions in complexity, cost and size.
The new method generates interest also in the business world.
“The demonstrated cooling effect can be used to actively cool quantum circuits on a silicon chip or in large scale refrigerators. Needless to say that we at Bluefors are following this new electrical refrigerator development with great interest,” says David Gunnarsson, who is Chief Sales Officer at Bluefors Oy – the leading company of refrigerator solutions for quantum systems and computers.

Straightforward solution to a seemingly fundamental physics problem

The research team was searching for an efficient and practical method to drive heat from one place to another by electrical current. The most efficient solution would be provided by a solid junction, where the hottest electrons climb over a short atomic scale potential barrier. The challenge with this approach is that the heat is not carried only by the electrons, but the quanta of the atomic lattice vibrations – so called phonons – also carry a significant amount of the heat. The phonons traveling between the hot and the cold level out the temperature differences very effectively, especially, over a short distance.
It seemed that the most efficient electronic cooling method always led to the worst possible phonon heat leak and, thereby, a nil result in terms of overall cooling. The VTT research team postulated that, in fact, a straightforward solution to this seemingly fundamental problem could exist: Certain material junctions could block the propagation of the phonons while the hot electrons pass it.
The team demonstrated the effect by utilizing semiconductor-superconductor junctions to refrigerate a silicon chip. In these junctions the forbidden electronic states in the superconductor form a barrier, over which the electrons from the semiconductor have to climb to drive the heat away. At the same time the junction itself scatters or blocks the phonons so effectively that the electronic current can introduce a significant temperature difference over the junction.
“We believe that this cooling effect can be observed in many different settings like for example in molecular junctions,” says Researcher Emma Mykkänen from VTT.

https://scitechdaily.com/miniaturiza...ng-technology/