The addition of IBM as a new partner in the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center, hosted by Fermilab, has been approved by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Science Programs. As a major national and international research center, SQMS is dedicated to advancing critical quantum technologies, with a focus on superconducting quantum systems. IBM is an industry leader in developing superconducting quantum computing technology. This collaboration intends to leverage the strengths of these two organizations to address key hurdles in quantum computing, communication and large-scale deployment of superconducting quantum platforms.

We welcome the addition of IBM to the SQMS collaboration, which brings together some of the worlds top experts in superconducting materials, devices and quantum systems. This collaboration aims to leverage our complementary technical strengths and shared goals to advance superconducting quantum systems for progressing toward a fault-tolerant quantum computer, said Anna Grassellino, SQMS Center Director.

The SQMS Center brings together more than 30 partner institutions representing national labs, industry and academia. The diverse collaboration unites over 500 experts from around the world working together to bring transformational advances in quantum information science.

Pictured (left to right) at the SQMS Quantum Garage at Fermilab are:Akshay Murthy, associate scientist at Fermilab; Yao Lu, associate scientist at Fermilab; Jason Orcutt, principal research scientist atIBM; Tanay Roy, associate scientist at Fermilab; Andre Vallieres, PhD student at Northwestern University; Silvia Zorzetti, department head, quantum computing co-design and communication at Fermilab; Jacob Hanson-Flores, summer intern at Fermilab; Alessandro Reineri, PhD student at Illinois Institute of Technology; Joey Yaker, PhD student at Northwestern University. Photo: Dan Svoboda, Fermilab

As part of the collaboration, IBM intends to focus on five critical areas: large-scale cryogenics, superconducting qubit noise sources, quantum interconnects, quantum computing applications for fundamental physics and quantum workforce development.

Fermilab and the SQMS Center are the ideal places to develop these key technologies and produce them at scale, said Lia Merminga, Fermilab director. We have decades of experience building large, complex superconducting cryogenic systems for accelerators and adopting advanced instrumentation to further our science mission. The advancement of quantum information science is a national priority, and Fermilab is deeply engaged in that progress.

Large-scale cryogenics

SQMS and IBM intend to work together to advance technologies critical for scaling up quantum computers to large-scale data centers. SQMS is already proposing novel solutions for higher efficiency large-scale milliKelvin cryogenics at Fermilab. These developments in cryogenics will include the worlds largest dilution refrigerator to host 3D superconducting radiofrequency (SRF)-based quantum computing and sensing platforms, called Colossus. IBM will provide practical information and specifications to broaden the impact of Colossus. This includes developing a large-scale cooling system based on LHe/N2 plants, which would suit IBMs future large-scale commercial quantum computing systems.

High-quality and high-density quantum interconnects

SQMS is designing and prototyping high-quality and high-density quantum interconnects based on 3D SRF platforms for quantum computing platforms being developed at Fermilab. These developments are also applicable to scaling up chip-based modular systems. Fermilab and IBM aim to explore the feasibility and usability of quantum links as part of a commercial quantum system with a focus on high-quality microwave cables.

Noise reduction in qubits and processors

As part of the SQMS Center, IBM and SQMS partners intend to work together to further the scientific understanding of mechanisms limiting the performance of superconducting qubits and developing practical schemes for the so-called 1/f flux noise abatement.

Development of scientific applications of quantum computing systems

SQMS partners and IBM plan to advance the study of physics-based applications of quantum computing systems. For example, in condensed matter physics, researchers aim to explore the use of IBMs utility-scale processors to support a quantum many-body dynamics simulation, whose complexity approaches a quantum advantage regime. For high-energy physics, partners will explore simulations of lattice quantum field theories.

Quantum workforce development programs

To attract and train the next generation of a diverse quantum workforce, SQMS established several successful workforce development programs, including the U.S. Quantum Information Science School shared with the other four National Quantum Information Science Research Centers (NQISRC) funded by DOE. IBM has a robust quantum education program that has enabled millions of learners worldwide and helped provide industry and domain expertise at Fortune 500 companies, universities, laboratories and startups within the IBM Quantum Network by providing tools to build their quantum workforce. SQMS and IBM plan to join forces to strengthen national quantum workforce development programs.

Colossus will offer 5 cubic meters of space and cool components to around 0.01K. Photo: Ryan Postel, Fermilab

As we accelerate towards building a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, we need to solve and scale complex challenges such as efficient, large-scale refrigeration and high-density and low-loss quantum interconnects and advance our understanding of noise sources and how to reduce them, said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum. The planned participation in the SQMS Centers research is a pillar for progressing our roadmap towards large-scale quantum computing. Alongside the collaboration to break through quantum hardware barriers, IBM and Fermilab intend to work together to drive scientific applications of quantum computing and build a quantum-ready workforce.

The start of the collaboration is pending final approval of a legal agreement between IBM and Fermi Research Alliance, LLC.

The Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center at Fermilab is supported by the DOE Office of Science.

The Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center is one of the five U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. Led by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, SQMS is a collaboration of more than 30 partner institutions national labs, academia, and industry working together to bring transformational advances in the field of quantum information science. The center leverages Fermilabs expertise in building complex particle accelerators to engineer multiqubit quantum processor platforms based on state-of-the-art qubits and superconducting technologies. Working hand in hand with embedded industry partners, SQMS will build a quantum computer and new quantum sensors at Fermilab, which will open unprecedented computational opportunities. For more information, please visitsqmscenter.fnal.gov.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is Americas premier national laboratory for particle physics research. A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance LLC. Visit Fermilabs website athttps://www.fnal.govand follow us on Twitter@Fermilab.

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IBM intends to partner with Fermilabs SQMS Center to advance critical quantum information science initiatives - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Quantum component manufacturer Infleqtion is to install a neutral atom quantum computer at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) in Harwell, UK.

Infleqtion will be the first company to deploy hardware at the NQCC, as part of the centers quantum testbed program.

Founded in 2007 and with offices in the US, the UK, and Australia, Infleqtion develops and designs instruments and systems for quantum technology applications.

Our recent installation is part of Infleqtions dedication to leading facility logistics in partnership with our colleagues at the NQCC. said Tim Ballance, president of Infleqtion UK. Together, we are establishing crucial infrastructure components such as network infrastructure, safety protocols, and security measures.

He added that primary lasers and optical, vacuum, and electronic subsystems all equipment necessary to support the functionality of the quantum computer have been included in this installation.

Infleqtion is also working with NQCC researchers and its partners at Oxfordshire County Council, Riverlane, and QinetiQ, using its Superstaq software to apply quantum optimization to tackle challenges such as traffic management in Oxfordshire.

The company says its principal goal is to demonstrate the practical applications of quantum technology on both a regional and national scale, particularly in areas such as national security and defense.

These system-level prototypes will help the NQCC and its collaborators to understand the unique characteristics of different hardware approaches, establish appropriate metrics for each qubit architecture, and explore the types of applications that benefit most from each technological approach, said NQCCs director, Dr. Michael Cuthbert.

This will directly feed into the NQCCs ongoing engagement with organizations across academia, industry, and government to develop use cases for early-stage quantum computers and to identify the innovations needed to accelerate the development and adoption of this transformative technology.

The NQCC is the UK's national lab for quantum computing, jointly delivered by two research councils within UK Research and Innovation the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The center works with partners across industry, government, and the research community, with its core funding provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the main funding body for engineering and physical sciences research in the UK.

Quantum computing firm Rigetti has previously said it will deliver a QPU to the NQCC. The company aims to develop and deploy a 24-qubit quantum computer based on the Companys Ankaa-class architecture, to the NQCCs Harwell Campus.

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Infleqtion to install quantum hardware at UKs National Quantum Computing Centre - DatacenterDynamics

The Superposition Guys Podcast, hosted by Yuval Boger, CCO at QuEra Computing

Kathrin Spendier, the technical prize director of XPRIZE Quantum Applications, is interviewed by Yuval Boger. Kathrin discussed her role in driving the quantum applications competition. The competition aims to discover quantum algorithms that demonstrate quantum advantage for real-world problems, with a $5 million prize purse divided over three years. She explained the application process, the types of problems targeted, and the importance of collaboration among participants, and much more.

Listen on Spotify here

Yuval Boger: Hello, Kathrin. Thank you for joining me today.

Kathrin Spendier: Thanks for having me, Yuval. Im very excited to be here and looking forward to our conversation.

Yuval: Wonderful. So who are you and what do you do?

Kathrin: So I am currently the technical prize director of XPRIZE Quantum Applications. I started this role about two months ago. Before that, I was a quantum technology evangelist at Quantinuum. My focus was on TKET, Quantinuums open source quantum SDK. I was traveling around universities and telling people about the SDK and how it works. I was very much involved in university outreach. And that pretty much aligns with where I came from before because I was at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs for 10 years. I was a tenured faculty in the physics department and although I wasnt in quantum computing at that time, I actually was a biophysicist. running a research lab on optical microscopy and how to apply it to study live cells. so my background is physics and Im from Austria. and now Im here and Im working with XPRIZE to push the boundaries of quantum applications.

Yuval: What is XPRIZE?

Kathrin: XPRIZE is a nonprofit foundation and its existed for about 30 years. So this year we celebrated our 30-year anniversary. Our main goal is to find challenges we have as humanity. And then in order to overcome these challenges, the idea is that you have a competition in order to get more people involvedscientists, entrepreneurs, individualsto solve these really hard problems that you need to solve in order to make sure that humanity is moving forward. And were not getting stuck in certain areas that might not be good. we have a lot of different prizes. Some of them are about how to achieve clean water. How can we, for example, protect our rainforests, our biodiversity. we have a lot of different prizes that are ongoing right now. And you can learn about them on XPRIZE.org. But pretty much the idea is you have a competition, you have very tough problems, and XPRIZE is trying to make the competitions audacious. So something that pushes you to do more than you normally would do in everyday life. theres a lot of information out there you can read. I think over the 30 years, theres like 10,000 innovators that have joined XPRIZE. So the community is quite big and its growing.

Yuval: The Quantum Challenge of XPRIZE is probably not 30 years old. When did it launch and what is the challenge? Whats the challenge? Whats the prize? What can you tell us about the Quantum Challenge?

Kathrin: Yeah, so the Quantum Challenge launched in March of this year and its a three-year competition, and we have our sponsors who are Google Quantum AI and GESDA. So they came together to form this prize in a three-year competition. And the idea here is that in three years, we hopefully have teams that join and we are hopeful that we come up with an algorithm that actually has quantum advantage for real-world problems. So the idea here is that we have these global challenges which the XPRIZE competitions are all about. And we are trying to make sure that when quantum computing gets to a point where you have very good hardware where you can solve challenging problems, that we also have the algorithms that can support running very meaningful problems. But we are a little bit behind with the algorithm development. So the competition is about finding these algorithms that have quantum advantage and that also solve meaningful problems that help humanity to move forward.

Yuval: If a team is so lucky and so smart to win the prize, how much is the prize or what is the prize?

Kathrin: So the prize purse overall, for the three years is $5 million. And the way XPRIZE has been operating in this competition is that this prize purse is divided up over the competition period. So for XPRIZE quantum applications, the first million dollars, so $1 million out of the $5 million will be given out after phase one is completed sometime near the end of 2025. And up to 20 teams will share this $1 million. And then these 20 teams and possibly some wildcard entries will move forward to phase two. And at the end of phase two, which is completed after three years, so that will be in early 2027, you will have a prize purse of $4 million that is remaining. And up to three winning teams will share $3 million. And then were going to have some runner-ups, possibly two to five that will share $1 million.

Yuval: What does it take to apply? Do I need to select a problem or to suggest a problem? How would people know what they believe they can solve in three years with quantum advantage?

Kathrin: Yes, applications are open until the end of July of this month, so July 31st. And it has kind of three steps to it. Theres a registration form you have to fill out. As a team, you can pretty much be an individual competitor. You can come from a startup company. You can be at a university. You can have teams that have multiple people from different areas. And pretty much you sign up, you register a team, you share some information with us regarding what youre interested in, whats your background, what youre looking forward to in the competition. You can share with us what you would like to submit, but you can also say youre still thinking. So this is a registration form. It takes you five to 10 minutes to fill out. Then we have a registration fee, and then we have the competitor agreement. Thats kind of the legal structure that your team is forming. And then you have an exchange with XPRIZE. And that also has to be reviewed and signed by your entity, which could be a university, for example. And then once all of this is done, you are registered. At this point, you can still be in that initial, nascent phase if you wish.

Yuval: So I basically dont have to say what is the problem I want to solve, just that Im forming a team and agree to the terms of the competition.

Kathrin: So thats totally fine. So we do have three areas of submissions. We call them novel algorithms, where teams come up with a new algorithm that has quantum advantage and is applied to real-world problems. For example, material science, maybe youre developing something that can help in terms of carbon sequestration. Or you can enhance an already existing algorithm. So theres an existing algorithm out there that has been shown to have quantum advantage, but you can enhance it somehow and then also apply it to real-world problems. So imagine right now theres an algorithm out there, people say they have quantum advantage, but in order to apply it, you need to have 100 error-corrected qubits, for example. But if you can go in and you take this quantum algorithm and you can make a change to it, you can show actually that something was overlooked, and now you can bring it more near term, that will be very exciting for an application, for example. Or you can have an algorithm that was developed but initially not thought to be applicable to this problem space. So that could be another entry. But you dont have to be specifically stuck to novel algorithms, enhanced algorithms, or a new application type. You can also maybe have something else you can think of, or you can say, I dont know. I think one-fifth of the teams that have currently filled out the registration form indicated they dont know yet. So there are some, I would say the majority right now, almost a third, will work on novel algorithms.

Yuval: The problems, it seems, have to be helpful to humanity, right? So if a team just found a way to make Shors algorithm run much better or with fewer resources, and the goal is to crack the worlds financial system, thats probably not a good fit for XPRIZE.

Kathrin: Oh, it depends. So we are suggesting that you should look at sustainability problems or other global challenges. But in any case, as a team, you make the argument of why its important. It really depends on the application you can think of, how many people are affected by it. And sometimes these applications may have a larger impact. The problem space is pretty wide and the judging criteria are fairly distributed. So in case you score high in one category, you may score less high in the other, but overall youre still very competitive. So I think you can really explore these things and you never know, maybe you come up with a new idea, a new application. So yeah, I wouldnt be worried about it.

Yuval: What can you tell me about the judges and the judging criteria? Who are they and what are they looking for?

Kathrin: Before the prize was launched, there was a lot of outreach to the current experts in the field. So we have a very diverse group of judges. Theyre also posted on our website if you go xprize.org and then choose the Quantum Applications prize and then scroll down to the Judges. Theres obviously support by Google Quantum AI as one of the sponsors besides GESDA. And then we also have people from Amazon Web Services, we have Harvard University, Microsoft. So we do have judges that are fairly distributed, the categories we thought we needed right now, but judges are still able to enter and help us. So we still have a need for judges and as the applications come in and as teams share more information about their entries, theres room for changing judges in the sense of adding more judges, and I think we will need more judges.

Yuval: If a team develops a new algorithm, do they continue to own that algorithm if they submit it to XPRIZE?

Kathrin: Yes, they own the IP. Yes, that stays with the team. So of course, it then depends on your internal agreement. If the entity youre working with is, for example, a university entity, then you have different rules internally, or if you work for a national lab, for example. So, but in principle, whoever the entity entering the agreement with XPRIZE is, that entity will own the IP.

Yuval: What is the role of a technical director? When should people reach out to you? What kind of questions can you help with?

Kathrin: Thats a good technical question. So if you are in academia, think about the technical director being the same as your NSF program director. I am the point of contact for you. You reach out with the questions, something is not clear, going through a registration process. You have questions about the competitor agreement, you reach out to me. Im your point of contact in that sense. I am here to help you to be most successful in this competition. So there are no barriers to reach out to me. So please do. Thats my role. Im managing the everyday schedule. Im helping, for example, develop the guidelines. Im in contact with judges and advisors to make sure that they give the input. Then Im also helping, for example, to get the word out. So Im doing active outreach as well at the moment. The role will change a little bit as we move forward.

Yuval: Does the team need to show that the algorithm works on an actual computer? So for instance, if theres this new breakthrough algorithm and it requires 500 logical qubits and at the time of judging, there is no computer that can run 500 logical qubits, does that still qualify?

Kathrin: So thats a good question. I have gotten this question a couple of times. So really what were looking for is a quantum algorithm that can be applied at one point where we can apply it on a quantum computer. what the competition is about is how near-term your application is. It doesnt have to be run right now on a quantum computer or in three years. If we get to a point where the hardware is at the stage where you can run your algorithm and where you show advantage, that would be just amazing. But in principle, it doesnt have to be applicable right now. So how near-term, how high-impact, how much of a thought delta is there in your submission.

Yuval: You mentioned that you get this question a lot. What other questions do you get a lot? What is frequently asked that you want to share?

Kathrin: So one question I do get is from young scientists. From students that enter the workforce and are still studying or starting their graduate degrees, for example, theyre asking, Am I even competitive for this kind of competition? And I point out that XPRIZE is a little bit different. XPRIZE Quantum Applications is different than a normal proposal you write. So normally you write a proposal, you get the money and you work on your idea. But for XPRIZE Quantum Applications, you kind of get the award afterwards. So you get the prize after you submit and complete it. And we actively want teams to collaborate. So even though you as an individual dont have all the experience needed, for example, you are not an error correction expert or youre not a classical compute expert. But if you join, theres a possibility of matching up with other teams. So you become an addition to a team. As a team together, you then come up with a very competitive idea. So its about networking as well. Its about starting at a certain level and then throughout the competition, you will develop more experience. You want to get more insights. Youre going to have a better network. And you will contribute with your background. So thats why I tell them, Dont be discouraged. Join. And you dont know who youll find and who you can team up with. So we really want to make sure that people talk to each other. And thats one thing about the competition itself. There was this initial opinion in the field, and especially by the sponsors too, that sometimes quantum algorithm developers, they think about an algorithm, but theyre not necessarily thinking about the application. And if you are, for example, you are a material scientist. You know a problem doesnt work well. And you think maybe quantum computing applies, but you dont really talk to a domain expert or an expert in quantum algorithms. So there is not a good conversation right now. We hope with XPRIZE Quantum Applications, we can overcome that. An algorithm expert would say, Oh, look at this algorithm. It can do this given these bounds. And then the domain expert can say, Oh, cool. Now I know the bounds. So possibly this could be an application. And then theres this exchange that we hope to be able to amplify more. We need more of that in order to push quantum algorithm development forward. And that was one of the reasons why we have this competition right now.

Yuval: If I heard correctly, there are three grand prizes of a million dollars at the end of the event, and then additional teams might share some additional prizes. Could you remind us when is the deadline for registration and how many teams would you hope that show up?

Kathrin: Yeah. Thanks. the registration deadline is July 31st of this month, but we also have something called wildcard entries. So for example, youre working on something, you havent heard about the competition. Or you forgot about it, you forgot to sign up, and then you can have an entry afterward. So, for example, the judges will look at your idea and then you can enter the competition at a later time as well. The earlier you can join, the better it is because we have these team formation events where you can exchange ideas. So thats one part of it. And then I forgot the other question you asked.

Yuval: The other question was how many teams do you think might show up?

Kathrin: Yes. So at the moment, we have over 450 teams that showed interest. So its hard to say, they have to fill out the registration form and the registration fee and the competitor agreement. So in my personal opinion, anything between 100 and 200 teams will be amazing. Thats a big delta, but I think were going to get there. Anything above that number would be stellar. And I dont know, it would be difficult to find a lot of judges for this, but we will do our best. So yes, thats where we are right now.

Yuval: As a former tenured faculty, you will have to grade or initially grade many, many applications to begin with, I think. So you have, I think, a lot of work coming your way.

Kathrin: Thats a lot of work coming my way. My role is to really help the judges develop very well-defined judging criteria so that they can go over the applications and are able to judge them. So theres going to be some review, but really the hard work is done by the judges. So well try to make the role as streamlined as possible.

Yuval: One last, perhaps unrelated to XPRIZE, I wanted to ask you a hypothetical question. If you could have dinner with one of the quantum greats, dead or alive, who would that person be?

Kathrin: Oh, that is a really good question. I think for me, its definitely Einstein. I would love to have dinner with him. Of course, obviously, in his career, there were many, many things he developed, and he was very experienced in, and he pushed a lot of boundaries and new ideas and such. But for me personally, the conversation I would like to have is how did he interact with young minds? How did he inspire them to follow his footsteps? I think this is really something that personally drives me still, being in this field, because I think we need young minds, we need more people that take the torch, that keep pushing forward. And I think its more and more difficult for a very specific field sometimes to get young people excited in what youre doing. Because sometimes they dont see the big purpose, or you get kind of distracted by other things that come your way. And some people come in later in life to find their path in science. So anyways, I would like to know what experience he had and how he would circumvent that in order to push science forward and big discoveries. So that would be great to have this conversation.

Yuval: Wonderful. Kathrin, thank you so much for joining me today.

Kathrin: thank you, Yuval, for having me and looking forward to your next podcast as well. Thank you.

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Superposition Guys Podcast Kathrin Spendier, technical prize director of XPRIZE - The Quantum Insider

Insider Brief

As a professor at Caltech and the director of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, John Preskill was a pioneer in research that provided the foundations of todays quantum industry. With a rich background in particle physics and fundamental physics, he brings a unique perspective to a conversation of quantum tech past, present and especially future.

In an exclusive interview with CERN, Preskill expertly covered on the current state of quantum computing, its potential applications, and what the future holds for this rapidly evolving field.

Weve picked out some highlights, but the complete interview is advised.

Reflecting on his journey, Preskill said he may have been a little late for investigation into the Standard Model, but he and his colleagues were determined to make an impact.

He told CERN: You could call it a Eureka moment. My generation of particle theorists came along a bit late to contribute to the formulation of the Standard Model. Our aim was to understand physics beyond the Standard Model. But the cancellation of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) in 1993 was a significant setback, delaying opportunities to explore physics at the electroweak scale and beyond. This prompted me to seek other areas of interest.

He continues, At the same time, I became intrigued by quantum information while contemplating black holes and the fate of information within them, especially when they evaporate due to Hawking radiation. In 1994, Peter Shors algorithm for factoring was discovered, and I learned about it that spring. The idea that quantum physics could solve problems unattainable by classical means was remarkably compelling.

I got quite excited right away because the idea that we can solve problems because of quantum physics that we wouldnt otherwise be able to solve, I thought, was a very remarkable idea. Thus, I delved into quantum information without initially intending it to be a long-term shift, but the field proved rich with fascinating questions. Nearly 30 years later, quantum information remains my central focus.

Quantum information science and quantum computing challenge conventional understandings of computation, according to Preskill.

Fundamentally, computer science is about what computations we can perform in the physical universe. The Turing machine model, developed in the 1930s, captures what it means to do computation in a minimal sense. The extended Church-Turing thesis posits that anything efficiently computable in the physical world can be efficiently computed by a Turing machine. However, quantum computing suggests a need to revise this thesis because Turing machines cant efficiently model the evolution of complex, highly entangled quantum systems. We now hypothesize that the quantum computing model better captures efficient computation in the universe. This represents a revolutionary shift in our understanding of computation, emphasizing that truly understanding computation involves exploring quantum physics.

Preskill sees quantum information science profoundly impacting other scientific fields in the coming decades. From the beginning, what fascinated me about quantum information wasnt just the technology, though thats certainly important and were developing and using these technologies. More fundamentally, it offers a powerful new way of thinking about nature. Quantum information provides us with perspectives and tools for understanding highly entangled systems, which are challenging to simulate with conventional computers.

He adds, The most significant conceptual impacts have been in the study of quantum matter and quantum gravity. In condensed matter physics, we now classify quantum phases of matter using concepts like quantum complexity and quantum error correction. Quantum complexity considers how difficult it is to create a many-particle or many-qubit state using a quantum computer. Some quantum states require a number of computation steps that grow with system size, while others can be created in a fixed number of steps, regardless of system size. This distinction is fundamental for differentiating phases of matter.

Addressing the relationship between theoretical advancements in quantum algorithms and their practical implementation, Preskill said: The interaction between theory and experiment is vital in all fields of physics. Since the mid-1990s, theres been a close relationship between theory and experiment in quantum information. Initially, the gap between theoretical algorithms and hardware was enormous. Yet, from the moment Shors algorithm was discovered, experimentalists began building hardware, albeit at first on a tiny scale. After nearly 30 years, weve reached a point where hardware can perform scientifically interesting tasks.

He added: For significant practical impact, we need quantum error correction due to noisy hardware. This involves a large overhead in physical qubits, requiring more efficient error correction techniques and hardware approaches. Were in an era of co-design, where theory and experiment guide each other. Theoretical advancements inform experimental designs, while practical implementations inspire new theoretical developments.

Discussing the current state of qubits in todays quantum computers, Preskill commented, Todays quantum computers based on superconducting electrical circuits have up to a few hundred qubits. However, noise remains a significant issue, with error rates only slightly better than 1% per two-qubit gate, making it challenging to utilize all these qubits effectively.

Additionally, neutral atom systems held in optical tweezers are advancing rapidly. At Caltech, a group recently built a system with over 6,000 qubits, although its not yet capable of computation. These platforms werent considered competitive five to ten years ago but have advanced swiftly due to theoretical and technological innovations.

Preskill offered an overview of neutral atom and superconducting systems in the interview.

In neutral atom systems, the qubits are atoms, with quantum information encoded in either their ground state or a highly excited state, creating an effective two-level system. These atoms are held in place by optical tweezers, which are finely focused laser beams. By rapidly reconfiguring these tweezers, we can make different atoms interact with each other. When atoms are in their highly excited states, they have large dipole moments, allowing us to perform two-qubit gates. By changing the positions of the qubits, we can facilitate interactions between different pairs.

In superconducting circuits, qubits are fabricated on a chip. These systems use Josephson junctions, where Cooper pairs tunnel across the junction, introducing nonlinearity into the circuit. This nonlinearity allows us to encode quantum information in either the lowest energy state or the first excited state of the circuit. The energy splitting of the second excited state is different from the first, enabling precise manipulation of just those two levels without inadvertently exciting higher levels. This behavior makes them function effectively as qubits, as two-level quantum systems.

As research teams scale up from a few hundred to a thousand qubits, Preskill said there will be challenges and a need for constant innovation.

He said: A similar architecture might work for a thousand qubits. But as the number of qubits continues to increase, well eventually need a modular design. Theres a limit to how many qubits fit on a single chip or in a trap. Future architectures will require modules with interconnectivity, whether chip-to-chip or optical interconnects between atomic traps.

Unlike classical computing, which requires relatively minimal need for error correction, the sensitivity and intricacy of quantum states represents a formidable hurdle for error correction. Preskill should know a thing or two about error correction hes credited with naming the present era of quantum computing as Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum, or NISQ.

Preskill offers a unique way of describing that noise and the mechanics behind these error-correction algorithms in quantum computers, adding, Think of it as software. Error correction in quantum computing is essentially a procedure akin to cooling. The goal is to remove entropy introduced by noise. This is achieved by processing and measuring the qubits, then resetting the qubits after they are measured. The process of measuring and resetting reduces disorder caused by noise.

The process is implemented through a circuit. A quantum computer can perform operations on pairs of qubits, creating entanglement. In principle, any computation can be built up using two-qubit gates. However, the system must also be capable of measuring qubits during the computation. There will be many rounds of error correction, each involving qubit measurements. These measurements identify errors without interfering with the computation, allowing the process to continue.

As scientists learn about quantum computing, those lessons reverberate across not just quantum science, but other fields of physics, according to Preskill.

When asked if progress in quantum computing teaches us anything new about quantum physics at the fundamental level, Preskill said, This question is close to my heart because I started out in high-energy physics, drawn by its potential to answer the most fundamental questions about nature. However, what weve learned from quantum computing aligns more with the challenges in condensed matter physics. As Phil Anderson famously said, more is different. When you have many particles interacting strongly quantum mechanically, they become highly entangled and exhibit surprising behaviors.

Studying these quantum devices has significantly advanced our understanding of entanglement. Weve discovered that quantum systems can be extremely complex, difficult to simulate, and yet robust in certain ways. For instance, weve learned about quantum error correction, which protects quantum information from errors.

While quantum computing advancements provide new insights into quantum mechanics, Preskill emphasizes that these insights pertain more to how quantum mechanics operates in complex systems rather than foundational aspects of quantum mechanics itself.

This understanding is crucial because it could lead to new technologies and innovative ways of comprehending the world around us.

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CERN Interviews John Preskill on The Past, Present And Future of Quantum Science - The Quantum Insider