Category Archives: Quantum Computer
Microsoft boosts Aussie quantum computing team – ARN – ARNnet
Microsoft has reportedly confirmed plans to double the size of its Station Q quantum computing lab in Sydney, in a move that will see 20 more researchers come on board.
As reported by sister publication, Computerworld, Microsoft is hoping to bump up its research ranks in a bid to double down on its goal to build a scalable quantum computer.
Station Q Sydney and the Quantum Nanoscience Laboratory are part of the Centre for Quantum Machines, directed by Professor David Reilly at the University of Sydney.
Late last year, Microsoft flagged that it wanted to double down on its commitment to quantum computing, with plans to bring two leaders in the field, Reilly, and fellow researcher, Matthias Troyer, into its ranks.
Reillys hire was announced earlier this year, with Microsoft taking the researcher on in a bid to build out its quantum systems.
Now, Reilly is picking up the pace.
We're in significant ramp up phase, he told Computerworld. We'll be bringing on more than an additional 20 engineers or so to this group in the next six months.
And then beyond that you know I would expect that things will continue to ramp up. We're hiring, he said.
The new additions are set to help Microsoft ramp up the development of its quantum system, which is based on a type of qubit or unit of quantum information called a topological qubit.
Microsofts quantum team believes that topological qubits are better able to withstand challenges such as heat or electrical noise, allowing them to remain in a quantum state longer. This is expected to make them more practical and effective.
While the company Microsoft works on its quantum computing prowess, its also creating the software that could run on it, with a goal is to have a system that can begin to efficiently solve complex problems from the very beginning.
Plans for the new quantum hires come just weeks after Microsoft unveiled plans to build a new inside sales centre for Asia in Sydney, in a move expected add 120 new jobs.
The vendor said it chose Sydney as the location for one of its four global Inside Sales Centres and that 120 digital inside sales professionals were being recruited to serve customers from the "state-of-the-art" centre being established in the NSW capital.
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Microsoft boosts Aussie quantum computing team - ARN - ARNnet
Will Google Be The First To Achieve Quantum Computing Supremacy? – Wall Street Pit
For more than seven years (starting in 2009), Google has been collaborating with D-Wave Systems, a Canadian tech startup which at the time claimed to be the first company to produce a commercial quantum computer. In 2013, Google even bought D-Wave Two, one of D-Waves machines.
Sadly, a number of tests published in 2014 debunked D-Waves claims their machines were not doing any better than traditional computers because they did not seem to be using quantum physics to solve problems and run computations. Or simply, their machines werent quantum computers at all.
It was in that same year when University of California professor John Martinis joined Google to establish a quantum hardware lab in Santa Barbara. His mission was to develop his own versions of the kind of chip being used inside a D-Wave machine. In other words, he was tasked to make improvements on D-Waves hardware based on the premise that their chip had the kind of quantum physics needed to do quantum computing, it just wasnt working the right way to deliver the superior computational power that a quantum computer is supposedly capable of.
Three years later, Martinis has given himself a clear deadline: he says that by the end of 2017, his team will be the first to achieve quantum supremacy, meaning, they will be able to build the first true quantum computer. And his confidence stems from the fact that they are now ready to test the quantum chip they have been working on for the past few years.
As reported by the MIT Technology Review, Googles quantum chip has 6 qubits arranged in a 2 by 3 configuration which, according to Martinis, shows that the technology will work when the qubits are arranged side by side as they will need to be in bigger devices.
The use of qubits (short for quantum bits) is what makes the high speed computational power of quantum computers possible. Conventional computers process data through bits which can represent 0 or 1. Quantum computers, on the other hand, process data by using qubits that can represent 0, or 1, or 0 and 1 simultaneously through the bizarre quantum process known as superpositioning or the ability of being in two different states at once.
Aside from showing its feasibility for large scale application, Googles 6-qubit arrangement is also a test to show if initially using one chip to store the qubits and another chip for the wiring that controls the qubits before eventually bump bonding them together will work. Apparently, the results are positive. Which is why the team is now moving fast forward.
According to Martinis, their quantum supremacy experiment would require a 49-qubit grid. And they are now in the process of designing 30 50 qubit devices for this purpose.
Pulling off this experiment of making a 50-qubit device actually perform quantum computations is a giant leap that will push Google to the forefront of the race to build the first quantum computer. Make no mistake about it, if successful, this will be a giant step forward. That said however, the finish line is still quite far off and theres much more work that needs to be done.
Still, a step forward is always a welcome development. And everyone at Google (and probably even the rest of the scientific community) is excited about the prospect of witnessing the realization of a technology that has so far been elusive and one which could fundamentally alter the way our society operates.
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Will Google Be The First To Achieve Quantum Computing Supremacy? - Wall Street Pit
Microsoft to double headcount of Sydney quantum computing lab … – Computerworld Australia
Microsoft is seeking to double the size Station Q quantum computing lab in Sydney with 20 new hires.
Around 20 researchers are currently working at the lab, which is based within the Quantum Nanoscience Laboratory at the University of Sydney.
Over the next six months, 20 more employees will join its ranks as the company doubles down on its efforts to build a scalable quantum computer based on topological qubits.
Microsofts Sydney lab one of eight worldwide is focused on the interface between quantum systems and their specialised classical control and readout hardware.
We're in significant ramp up phase, lab director, Professor David Reilly told Computerworld.
We'll be bringing on more than an additional 20 engineers or so to this group in the next six months. And then beyond that you know I would expect that things will continue to ramp up. We're hiring.
Reilly officially joined the company in November, one of four big name academic hires announced at the time, tasked with exploring many of the engineering challenges for reading out and controlling qubits in scaled-up architectures.
The guitar-wielding experimental physicist, said the jobs on offer represented a unique opportunity.
For me it's a dream come true because it is one foot in the most fundamental, deeply interesting, almost philosophical, mathematical, beautiful things that nature has to offer. I think in quantum physics and aspects of quantum mechanics which we're still trying to grapple with there are a lot of unknowns. It's a frontier, blue sky, open research, he said.
And then the other foot is about realising something, having an impact, building a technology that let's face it, as corny as it sounds, when these machines switch on and come into existence they're going to change the world.
So any of your readers are curious about getting involved in the field should be aware, and be looking now to see an opportunity, Reilly added.
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Microsoft to double headcount of Sydney quantum computing lab ... - Computerworld Australia
Could Time Crystals Hold The Key To Building The First Quantum Computer? – Wall Street Pit
Time crystals arent something out of Tony Starks glossary of inventions. Tony Stark is, of course, the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, also known as Iron Man. You get the picture Tony Stark is fictional. Time crystals, however, have transitioned from the world of fantasy into that of reality. And dont let the name mislead you. Time crystals dont have anything to do with time (much less time travel).
Time crystals are basically structures that repeat both in space and in time. They are among the first examples of a phase of matter known as the non-equilibrium phase they move without requiring energy, and they never reach a steady state because of their constant motion.
The existence of this bizarre type of matter was first proposed in 2012 by physicist and Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek. Four years later, the hypothetical structure came into actual being as two separate research teams one from the University of Maryland and the other from Harvard University were able to create their own versions. The University of Maryland team used a chain of ytterbium ions while the Harvard team used a synthetic diamond.
Scientists are still speculating on what time crystals can be used for. Right now, a research team from Harvard led by Mikhail Lukin and Eugene Demler (both physics professors), is working on a quantum system that makes use of time crystals. Going beyond mere understanding of how non-equilibrium systems (such as time crystals) work, they are carefully considering the practical applications for these systems. And while they believe its still a bit far-off, one possible application they have thought of is quantum computing.
As Lupin said in an interview, This is an area that is of interest for many quantum technologies, because a quantum computer is basically a quantum system thats far away from equilibrium. Its very much at the frontier of researchand we are really just scratching the surface.
Quantum computers are being hailed as the next generation of computers that will be more powerful and far more efficient than any existing conventional computer. And its because of how they will process data. Unlike todays computers which rely on bits that can represent either 0 or 1, quantum computers will rely on qubits (short for quantum bits) that can represent 0, or 1, or 0 and 1 simultaneously through the extraordinary phenomenon called superpositioning (being in two states at once).
All around the world, scientists have been attempting to build a quantum computer. And so far, the race is still on. The motivation behind it isnt hard to understand we need to have quantum computers now so that we can have have a better shot at addressing the worst problems we are facing, including global warming, curing disease, antibiotic resistance and lack of safe drinking water.
Time crystals might not have anything to do with time. But maybe time is exactly whats needed so the weird mechanisms that make them behave like they do can eventually be harnessed and the first fully functioning quantum computer can finally be built.
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Could Time Crystals Hold The Key To Building The First Quantum Computer? - Wall Street Pit
The First Quantum Computer You Own Could Be Powered by a Time Crystal – Futurism
In BriefNow that researchers have created time crystals, the next stepis to understand more about this bizarre material. A team ofresearchers from Harvard University are doing just that in order toexplore potential applications of time crystals. Understanding the Bizarre
Time crystals can exist its already been proven. Previously, two teams of researcherscreated their own time crystals that bend the laws of space and time. One of these, from the University of Maryland, used a chain of charged particles called ytterbium ions. Meanwhile, the other team from Harvard University created an artificial lattice using synthetic diamond.
Both setups demonstrated the quantum system behind such an object, and both produced new materials that work as time crystals.
Since it was first conceptualized in 2012 by physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek, time crystals have made its way out of the theoretical and into the real world. It took you guessed it time, because time crystals are essentially impossibilities. Simply put, a time crystal is like conventional crystals, but with an added twist. Instead of just lattices repeating in space, it also repeats in time by breaking whats called a time-translation symmetry.
Because of this unique quality, time crystals exhibit movement while remaining in its lowest energy or ground state. This bizarre phenomenon is the first example of non-equilibrium phases of matter.
Now, the Harvard researchers, led by physics professors Mikhail Lukin and Eugene Demler, want to understand more about this new kind of material. Its physics has been proven, yes, but a lot more remains to be uncovered about it. There is now broad, ongoing work to understand the physics of non-equilibrium quantum systems, Lukin explained in an interview for a Harvard press release.
Indeed, research into materials like time crystals are helping us understand the physics of both the quantum world and our own. Such scientific anomaliesoften lead to knowledge that allows us to transform these worlds. In this case, thetime crystals have provided Lukin and the other researchers with an avenue to develop new technology such as precision measurement tools, quantum sensors, and even atomic clocks.
A particularly interesting potential application of time crystals is in quantum computing. Quantum computers are going to be the next generation of computing machines, as these will be more powerful, more precise, and more efficient than existing computers. Its use of quantum bits (or qubits) to process data and information is the key. Instead of relying on bits of 0s and 1s, quantum computers use qubits that can be both a 0 and 1 at the same time because of a quantum phenomenon called superposition. Time crystals can, perhaps, help develop these into workable models.
This is an area that is of interest for many quantum technologies, Lukin said, because a quantum computer is basically a quantum system thats far away from equilibrium. Its very much at the frontier of researchand we are really just scratching the surface.
Once realized, quantum computers could revolutionize the way we do research by solving the most complex problems in a flash.
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The First Quantum Computer You Own Could Be Powered by a Time Crystal - Futurism
Rechargeable ‘spin battery’ promising for spintronics and quantum … – Phys.Org
April 19, 2017 by Emil Venere This microscope image shows a new device used to measure the persistent spin polarization for a rechargeable spin battery that represents a step toward building possible spintronic devices and quantum computers more powerful than today's technologies. Credit: Purdue University image/Jifa Tian
Researchers have shown how to create a rechargeable "spin battery" made out of materials called topological insulators, a step toward building new spintronic devices and quantum computers.
Unlike ordinary materials that are either insulators or conductors, topological insulators are both at the same time - they are insulators inside but conduct electricity on the surface. The materials might be used for spintronic devices and quantum computers more powerful than today's technologies.
Electrons can be thought of as having two spin states: up or down, and a phenomenon known as superposition allows electrons to be in both states at the same time. Such a property could be harnessed to perform calculations using the laws of quantum mechanics, making for computers much faster than conventional computers at certain tasks.
The conducting electrons on the surface of topological insulators have a key property known as "spin momentum locking," in which the direction of the motion of electrons determines the direction of its spin. This spin could be used to encode or carry information by using the down or up directions to represent 0 or 1 for spin-based information processing and computing, or spintronics.
"Because of the spin-momentum locking, you can make the spin of electrons line up or 'locked' in one direction if you pass a current through the topological insulator material, and this is a very interesting effect," said Yong P. Chen, a Purdue University professor of physics and astronomy and electrical and computer engineering and director of the Purdue Quantum Center.
Applying an electric current to the material induces an electron "spin polarization" that might be used for spintronics. Ordinarily, the current must remain turned on to maintain this polarization. However, in new findings, Purdue researchers are the first to induce a long-lived electron spin polarization lasting two days even when the current is turned off. The electron spin polarization is detected by a magnetic voltage probe, which acts as a spin-sensitive voltmeter in a technique known as "spin potentiometry".
The new findings are detailed in a research paper appearing on April 14 in the journal Science Advances. The experiment was led by postdoctoral research associate Jifa Tian.
"Such an electrically controlled persistent spin polarization with unprecedented long lifetime could enable a rechargeable spin battery and rewritable spin memory for potential applications in spintronics and quantum information systems," Tian said.
This "writing current" could be likened to recording the ones and zeroes in a computer's memory.
"However, a better analog is that of a battery," Chen said. "The writing current is like a charging current. It's slow, just like charging your iPhone for an hour or two, and then it can output power for several days. That's the similar idea. We charge up this spin battery using this writing current in half an hour or one hour and then the spins stay polarized for two days, like a rechargeable battery."
The finding was a surprise.
"This was not predicted nor something we were looking for when we started the experiment," he said. "It was an accidental discovery, thanks to Jifa's patience and persistence, running and repeating the measurements many times, and effectively charging up the spin battery to output a measurable persistent spin polarization signal."
The researchers are unsure what causes the effect. However, one theory is that the spin- polarized electrons might be transferring their polarization to the atomic nuclei in the material. This hypothesis as a possible explanation to the experiment was proposed by Supriyo Datta, Purdue's Thomas Duncan Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the leader of the recently launched Purdue "spintronics preeminent team initiative."
"In one meeting, Professor Datta made the critical suggestion that the persistent spin signal Jifa observed looked like a battery," Chen said. "There were some analogous experiments done earlier on a nuclear spin powered battery, although they typically required much more challenging conditions such as high magnetic fields. Our observation so far is consistent with the effect also arising from the nuclear spins, even though we don't have direct evidence."
Nuclear spin has implications for development of quantum memory and quantum computing.
"And now we have an electrical way to achieve this, meaning it is potentially useful for quantum circuits because you can just pass current and you polarize nuclear spin," Chen said. "Traditionally that has been very difficult to achieve. Our spin battery based on topological insulators works even at zero magnetic field, and moderately low temperatures such as tens of kelvins, which is very unusual."
Seokmin Hong, a former Purdue doctoral student working with Datta who is now a software engineer at Intel Corp., said, "While an ordinary charged battery outputs a voltage that can be used to drive a charge current, a 'spin battery' outputs a 'spin voltage,' or more precisely a chemical potential difference between the spin up and spin down electrons, that can be used to drive a non-equilibrium spin current."
The researchers used small flakes of a material called bismuth tellurium selenide. It is in the same class of materials as bismuth telluride, which is behind solid-state cooling technologies such as commercial thermoelectric refrigerators. However, unlike the commercial grade material that is a "doped" bulk semiconductor, the material used in the experiment was carefully produced to have ultra-high-purity and little doping in the bulk so the conduction is dominated by the spin-polarized electrons on the surface. It was synthesized by research scientist Ireneusz Miotkowski in the semiconductor bulk crystal lab managed by Chen in Purdue's Department of Physics and Astronomy. The devices were fabricated by Tian in the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park.
The paper was authored by Tian; Hong; and Miotkowski, Datta, and Chen.
Future research will include work to probe what causes the effect by directly probing the nuclear spin, and also to explore how this spin battery can be used in potential practical applications.
Explore further: Long-distance transport of electron spins for spin-based logic devices
More information: Jifa Tian et al. Observation of current-induced, long-lived persistent spin polarization in a topological insulator: A rechargeable spin battery, Science Advances (2017). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1602531
Journal reference: Science Advances
Provided by: Purdue University
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Once we have quantum computers running applications that help us research and design new materials, material applications of quantum dynamics are going to increase exponentially. Just like what happened when Turing machine computers were finally usable as tools to design Turing machine computers, instead of being designed with adding machines, slide rules and graph paper.
So yes, there will be lots more people who don't know what they're doing, doing things.
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Rechargeable 'spin battery' promising for spintronics and quantum ... - Phys.Org
Research project successful: Volkswagen IT experts use quantum … – Automotive World (press release)
The Volkswagen Group is the worlds first automaker to intensively test the use of quantum computers. Volkswagen is cooperating with leading quantum computing company specialist D-Wave Systems. At CeBIT 2017, the two companies today announced their cooperation. In a first research project, IT experts from Volkswagen have already successfully developed and tested a traffic flow optimization algorithm on a D-Wave quantum computer.
Dr. Martin Hofmann, CIO of the Volkswagen Group, said: Quantum computing is the next generation of supercomputing and can bring us tremendous progress in all key areas of IT and digitalization. In strategic cooperation with D-Wave, we are learning to make effective use of the strengths of a quantum computer. We are taking a further major step towards the digital future of the Volkswagen Group.
Robert Bo Ewald, President of D-Wave International, said: In a short period of time the experts at Volkswagen were able to successfully create and test an algorithm on our quantum computer for an important type of optimization problem. We look forward to seeing great progress in the future as they apply their automotive and data science expertise to increasingly difficult real-world problems.
In the first research project, data scientists and big data experts from Volkswagen, working with data from 10,000 public taxis in Beijing, have successfully shown that they can optimize traffic flow in the mega-metropolis using a quantum computer. Further projects are to follow in the course of cooperation with D-Wave. Initially, the main focus is on the further development of specialist expertise and entrepreneurially meaningful applications.
Dr. Florian Neukart, Principal Data Scientist at the Volkswagen Group IT Code Lab in San Francisco, said: Our first traffic flow optimization project in Beijing successfully shows how an algorithm on a quantum computer can guide vehicles in a metropolis in such an intelligent way that congestion is avoided. The results give us confidence for further applications on the quantum computer. We place considerable emphasis on the open source approach. Our work is to be transparent and to allow verification by third parties.
The Volkswagen Group is the first automaker to work intensively with quantum computing technology. Group IT expects a wide range of application possibilities especially in the areas of autonomous driving, the robotic enterprise (AI-supported process control), the smart factory, machine learning and intelligent mobility solutions.
Quantum computers can solve highly complex problems many times faster than conventional supercomputers. The computing principle of a quantum computer is especially well-suited for this project because it natively solves optimization problems. In simplified terms, an optimization problem considers how a specific resource (such as time, money or energy) can be used in the best possible way in a certain scenario. The complexity of the task and therefore the computing capacity required grow exponentially with the number of factors to be considered, taking conventional digital computers to their limits.
In a few years new Quantum computers from IBM, Google and Microsoft will accelerate breakthroughs in chemistry and … – Next Big Future
IBM and Google both aim to commercialize quantum computers within the next few years (Google specified five years.)
Quantum computers will be more powerful than conventional computers for problems like efficient routing for logistics and mapping companies, new forms of machine learning, better product recommendations, and improved diagnostic tests.
The first universal quantum computers will be used for simulating molecules and reactions. Early, small quantum computers are ideally suited for chemical and molecular simulation.
Simulating the quantum effects that shape molecular structures and reactions is a natural problem for quantum computers, because their power comes from encoding data into those same challenging quantum states. The components that make up quantum computers, known as qubits, can use quantum-mechanical processes to take computational shortcuts impossible for a conventional machine.
Microsoft is betting on a less mature form of quantum hardware than IBM and Google but it has one of the most advanced efforts to develop practical quantum algorithms. Chemistry and materials science are among of its primary areas of focus. The groups researchers have recently tried to show how hybrid systems in which a conventional computer and a small quantum computer work together could simulate chemistry.
It has great promise for studying molecules, says Krysta Svore, who leads Microsofts group working on quantum algorithms. Looking for new, practical superconducting materials is one possible application of the hybrid model that shouldnt require very large quantum computers, she says. Conventional computers struggle to replicate the quantum behavior of electrons that underpins superconductivity.
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In a few years new Quantum computers from IBM, Google and Microsoft will accelerate breakthroughs in chemistry and ... - Next Big Future
Better than Quantum Computing: The EU Launches a Biocomputer … – Labiotech.eu (blog)
The EU Horizon 2020 has launched Bio4Comp, a five-year 6.1M project to build more powerful and safer biocomputers that could outperform quantum computing.
TheBio4Comp project has the ambitious goal of building a computer with greater processing speed and lower energy consumption than any of the most advanced computers existing today. Ultimately, this could translate into enabling large, error-free security software to be fast enough for practical use, potentially wiping out all current security concerns.
A total of 6.1M have been awarded to an European team of researchers from TU Dresden, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Lund University, Linnaeus University and Bar Ilan University, as well as the British company Molecular Sense.
Practically all really interesting mathematical problems of our time cannot be computed efficiently with our current computer technology, says Dan V. Nicolau from Molecular Sense, who had the original idea ofharnessing the power of biomolecules to build better computers.The team plans to solve this problem by scaling up its first biocomputer prototype, whose mechanisms have been published in the journalPNAS.
Picture of a computation network of the biocomputer, taken with an electron microscope
We are using molecular motors of the cell that have been optimized for a billion years of evolution to be highly energy efficient nanomachines, explainsProf. Stefan Diez from TU Dresden.These molecular motors aremyosin and kinesin, the proteins responsible for muscle contraction and transport of molecules inside the cell, respectively. These molecules,fixed on the biochip, move otherproteins across the computation device, which return a specific number depending on their final location.
With the new funds, researchers from TU Dresden plan to further improve the model by modifying and optimizing these motor proteins for computation and their integration into nanodevices.
The biocomputerhas the potential to immenselyreduce computing time by doing calculations in parallel, since multiple molecules can travel through the device simultaneously. Parallel computation is not a new concept, though;quantum computers are based on the same principle. However, the researchers at Bio4Comp have argued that biocomputing could overcome the scale limits of quantum computing, as well as other experimental models such as DNA and microfluidics-based computation.
Images from Shawn Hempel/Shutterstock, TU Dresden
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Better than Quantum Computing: The EU Launches a Biocomputer ... - Labiotech.eu (blog)
Quantum computers are here — but what are they good for? – PCWorld
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After decades of research, the first quantum computers are now up and running. The question now is: What do we do with them?
IBM and D-Wave are trying to cash in on their expensive quantum computers by commercializing services. Both agree that quantum computers are different than PCs and can't be used to run every application.
Instead, quantum systems will do things not possible on today's computers, like discovering new drugs and building molecular structures. Today's computers are good at finding answers by analyzing information within existing data sets, but quantum computers can get a wider range of answers by calculating and assuming new data sets.
Quantum computers can be significantly fasterand could eventually replace today's PCs and servers. Quantum computing is one way to advance computing as today's systems reach their physical and structural limits.
Progress has been slow, but researchers are discovering uses for existing quantum computers like D-Wave's 2000Q, which has 2,000 qubits, and IBM's 5-qubit systems. Both are based on different technologies, with IBM's system being complex and more advanced in terms of technology. D-Wave's quantum annealing system is a more practical and quick way to quantum computingbut is much faster than today's PCs.
Google, NASA, and Universities Space Research Association (USRA) are installing the D-Wave 2000Q system at NASA's Ames Research Center to use for artificial intelligence and machine learning. The organizations hope to use the quantum computer for "optimization," which can derive the best possible solution to problems based on a wide range of possibilities. NASA has used D-Wave quantum computers for robotics missions in space, while Google has used it for search, image labeling, and voice recognition.
On Monday, car maker Volkswagen said it is using D-Wave's system to predict traffic patterns of cabs in Beijing. The company developed an algorithm that could improve the flow of cabs in the city, which would reduce the time it would take to hail a cab. The study, which used sample data from 10,000 Beijing cabs, also focused on understanding the power of a quantum computer. The official quantum software program to optimize traffic flow will be shown by Volkswagen and D-Wave at Cebit next week.
D-Wave ultimately hopes to make its quantum computer available via the cloud much like IBM, which has launched the Q program for paid quantum computing services. IBM announced the Q program last weekand plans to build a 50-qubit quantum computer in the coming years as part of the service.
IBM's quantum computer is targeted at scientific applications like material sciences and quantum dynamicsand is tied to the use of classical algorithms. For example, one use relates to Grover's algorithm, which can help find answers from unstructured databases much quicker than conventional computers.
But the company is also looking at pushing the Q service for financial and economic modeling. IBM has a free service called Quantum Experience so researchers and academics can sample applications on the company's 5-qubit quantum computer via the cloud.
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Quantum computers are here -- but what are they good for? - PCWorld