The error-prone nature of today’s quantum computers can make doing any useful computation on them a major headache. IBM has announced that, as of this past week, they have integrated error suppression technology from Q-CTRL into IBM cloud quantum services, letting users slash error rates by simply flicking a switch.
Computers that harness the unusual properties of quantum mechanics will ultimately be capable of computational feats beyond even the most powerful supercomputers. But the quantum states that make this possible are incredibly fragile and susceptible to noise, which means carrying out operations before they are overwhelmed by errors is a significant challenge.
It’s widely accepted that large-scale quantum computers will require some form of error correction. The leading schemes involve spreading information over a large number of physical qubits to create more robust “logical qubits”. But this can require as many as a thousand physical qubits for each logical one. Given that today’s largest processors feature just hundreds of qubits, error corrected quantum computing is still a distant prospect.
In the meantime, the start-up Q-CTRL—based in Sydney, Australia—says the best way to tame unruly, near-term quantum processors is “error suppression,” which involves altering how you operate the underlying hardware to reduce the likelihood of errors. Using a combination of techniques, the company says its software can boost the chances of an algorithm running successfully by several orders of magnitude. And now, IBM has integrated the technology into its quantum cloud offerings.
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