Quantum computers have long promised to revolutionize technology, with the ability to speed up complex calculations, design new medicines, break modern encryption, and uncover exotic new materials. But there’s been a major obstacle: noise. That’s the term for all the tiny errors that build up during quantum computations, often making these futuristic machines less effective than even today’s classical computers.
Until now.
A breakthrough led by Daniel Lidar, a professor of engineering at USC and an expert in quantum error correction, has pushed quantum computing past a key milestone. Working with researchers from USC and Johns Hopkins, Lidar’s team demonstrated a powerful exponential speedup using two of IBM’s 127-qubit Eagle quantum processors — all operated remotely through the cloud. Their results were published in the prestigious journal Physical Review X.
“There have previously been demonstrations of more modest types of speedups like a polynomial speedup, says Lidar, who is also the cofounder of Quantum Elements, Inc. “But an exponential speedup is the most dramatic type of speed up that we expect to see from quantum computers.”
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