Google Achieved “Quantum Supremacy”

Quantum Computer Chip (Photo Credit: Google AI)

Google published a journal on October 23 in Nature, a British scientific journal, saying that they have achieved the “Quantum Supremacy.” Google’s achievement means that their quantum computer can solve a random number calculation problem in few seconds that the classical supercomputer such as International Business Machines (IBM) took a long time to solve.

According to Google, they have developed a processor chip called “Sycamore,” under the direction of John Martinis, a research scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Google used Sycamore to develop their quantum computer. A processor is a chip that enables the computer to compute complicated calculations and acts as the central processing part. If the ability of the chip is excellent, the computer can calculate and run more applications simultaneously. The most significant difference between the quantum processor and classical one is that when the classical computer uses 0 and 1 to compute the calculation, the quantum computer uses both 0 and 1 at the same time to yield more computational tasks than the current one. 

Google mentioned that they had overcome a few technological obstacles the classical computers had before. One of the obstacles was the temperature condition. The processor must be locked in a refrigerator to operate the computer. The refrigerator for the quantum processor must stay at the condition of absolute zero temperature. The other obstacle is that the chip needs several calibrations since the quantum processor is not a stable object. The processor is too sensitive at the even smaller sound, waves, or temperature. 

The quantum computer has shown powerful abilities. One of the strengths is that the quantum computer is “an effective tool with which to solve problems in physics and chemistry.” When the classical computer is used for simulating a natural phenomenon, the computation took so long and occurred many errors. The tiny error yield different results in this field. The quantum computer resolved these problems. According to Nature, “Our Sycamore processor takes about 200 seconds to sample one instance of a quantum circuit a million times—our benchmarks currently indicate that the equivalent task for a state-of-the-art classical supercomputer would take approximately 10,000 years.” 

Technology has been developed at a fast pace. Google has stepped into a new stage of technology, and they expect the future of quantum computers can be improved better. John Martinis expects the bright future of the quantum computer by saying that, “Quantum computing is transitioning from a research topic to a technology that unlocks new computational capabilities.”

Written by Seyong Back|Staff Writer