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There was a recent post on BBC where the academics said their quantum computer will scale through modules. So they have to get a module right, and after that it

by mtgx 9y ago

There was a recent post on BBC where the academics said their quantum computer will scale through modules. So they have to get a module right, and after that it will be "easy" to scale. http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-42426121/quantum-computing-modular-system-announced http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-42426121/quantum-compu... The recent UNSW silicon architecture announcement included something similar to that (480 qubit chip module that scales). Plus, they said they have an error-correction algorithm that will scale to millions of qubits. https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/complete-design-silicon-quantum-computer-chip-unveiled https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/complete-desi... Google has also suggested that they just need to get the stability of the first qubits right and then scaling them will be easier: https://www.wired.com/2014/09/martinis/ https://www.wired.com/2014/09/martinis/ In that post Martinis actually hoped they'd double the number of qubits every year, but I think it's been closer to 1.5-2 years, for both Google and IBM. Google plans to announce the rumored 49 qubits quantum computer next March. D-Wave was able to double the number of qubits every year in their first four years, and now it seems to double every 2 years. I think D-Wave's capabilities have only improved significantly, rather than regressed with the number of qubits. We don't know yet if that's true for Google and IBM, but I would imagine it is.

Robotbeat 9y ago
D-Wave's computer is fundamentally different than other quantum computers. The D-Wave is a quantum annealling computer. And for a while, there was some question whether what it was doing could actually be described fully classically, though now I think the consensus is that there is some quantum effect. Although classical or quantum, there could still be a practical speed up over the typical conventional computers. The idea is to use them for optimization problems. But they aren't a straightforward mapping to the usual quantum computer, and so cannot be directly compared. To me, it's like comparing an analogue and a digital computer.

by mtgx 9y ago

Robotbeat 9y ago

D-Wave's computer is fundamentally different than other quantum computers. The D-Wave is a quantum annealling computer. And for a while, there was some question whether what it was doing could actually be described fully classically, though now I think the consensus is that there is some quantum effect. Although classical or quantum, there could still be a practical speed up over the typical conventional computers. The idea is to use them for optimization problems. But they aren't a straightforward mapping to the usual quantum computer, and so cannot be directly compared. To me, it's like comparing an analogue and a digital computer.