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Chinese scientists are one step closer to a future large-scale quantum computer after building the worlds largest quantum simulation machine based on the trapped-ion technique, praised by one academic journal reviewer as a milestone to be recognised.

The breakthrough was achieved under the leadership of Duan Luming, a quantum physicist renowned for his pioneering research, who returned to China in 2018 after 15 years of teaching in the United States.

Duan received his doctorate in 1998 from the University of Science and Technology of China, the countrys premier institute for quantum research, before joining the University of Michigan in the early 2000s.

Since his return, he has been a full-time professor at Tsinghua Universitys Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences.

Duan and his colleagues, along with several research groups at universities and hi-tech companies around the world, have been chasing the trapped-ion approach to qubits.

Quantum bits, or qubits, are the building blocks of quantum computers, just as bits are in regular computers.

However, qubits are extremely difficult to harness in a controlled and repeatable way because of what is called their hazy nature.

Regular bits can be described as switches that are either on or off. But because uncertainty and probability hold sway in quantum physics, qubits can be both on and off at the same time, and also exist in a variety of in-between states.

Ions, or charged atomic particles, can be trapped and suspended in free space using electromagnetic fields. The qubits are stored in stable electronic states of each ion, and quantum information can be transferred through the collective motion of the ions in a shared trap.

But scalability remains a key challenge for this system.

This is where the trapped-ion approach comes in, as it offers one of the most promising architectures for a scalable, universal quantum computer.

Researchers earlier achieved quantum simulations with up to 61 ions in a one-dimensional crystal. Ion crystals are solids made up of ions bound together in a regular lattice the symmetrical three-dimensional structural arrangements of atoms, ions or molecules inside a solid.

But Duan and his teams quantum simulator was able to achieve the stable trapping and cooling of a two-dimensional crystal of up to 512 ions, in a first for science.

The feat holds great significance for the future of quantum computing, given that scalability is a major hurdle. The teams scaling up of the ions in a stable simulation system is seen as likely to pave the way to building more powerful quantum computers.

The findings of their study were published on Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

This is the largest quantum simulation or computation performed to date in a trapped-ion system, commented one reviewer.

Quantum simulators are devices that actively use quantum effects to answer questions about model systems and, through them, real systems. They are increasingly popular tools in the world of quantum computing for their role in advancing scientific knowledge and developing technologies.

Duan and his team also managed to perform a quantum simulation calculation using 300-ion qubits. They found the computational complexity of 300-ion quantum bits working simultaneously to be astronomical, far exceeding the direct simulation capability of classical computers.

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US-returned Chinese physicist and team achieve world first in quantum computing - South China Morning Post

As technology continues to advance toward higher realms, a new mechanism has entered the crosshairs of scientists: quantum computing. This process uses the principles of fundamental physics to "solve extremely complex problems very quickly," according to McKinsey & Company.

Using logic-based computing to solve problems isn't a new phenomenon; it was (and remains) the basis for artificial intelligence and digital computers. However, quantum computers are "poised to take computing to a whole new level," McKinsey said, because the introduction of physics into computing has the "potential tosolvevery complex statistical problems that are beyond the limits of today's computers." Quantum computing alone "could account fornearly $1.3 trillion in valueby 2035."

However, while organizations like McKinsey are clearly high on the potential for quantum computing, others say that it could create a slew of new problems.

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Quantum computing is a huge leap forward because "complex problems that currently take the most powerful supercomputer several years could potentially be solved in seconds," said Charlie Campbell for Time. This could open "hitherto unfathomable frontiers in mathematics and science, helping to solve existential challenges like climate change and food security."

Quantum computing is already being used for more practical purposes. One company called D-Wave Systems has "used its quantum computer to help clients determine driver schedules for grocery-store deliveries, the routing of cross-country promotional tours and cargo-handling procedures at the port of Los Angeles," said Bob Henderson for The Wall Street Journal. It could even help optimize seemingly minute problems, such as the arranging of planes at airport gates. If trying to arrange just 50 planes at 100 gates, the number of possibilities would be "10 to the hundredth power far more than the number of atoms in the visible universe," said Henderson. No standard computer "could keep track of all these possibilities.But a quantum computer potentially could."

While ubiquitous usage of quantum computers is a long way away, there are some strides being made, as Google "has built a quantum computer that's about 158 million times faster than the world's fastest supercomputer," said Luke Lango, a senior investment analyst at InvestorPlace. And quantum theory in general "has led to huge advancements over the past century. That's especially true over the past decade," as scientists "have started to figure out how to harness the power of quantum mechanics to make a new generation of superquantum computers."

But with new advancements come new sets of problems. Case-in-point: Quantum computers have "become a national security migraine," said Campbell for Time, because its ability to solve problems "will soon render all existing cryptography obsolete, jeopardizing communications, financial transactions and even military defenses."

This would be "potentially a completely different kind of problem than one we've ever faced," Glenn S. Gerstell, a former general counsel for the National Security Agency, said to The New York Times. There may be "only a 1% chance of that happening, but a 1% chance of something catastrophic is something you need to worry about." This risk "extends not just to future breaches but to past ones: Troves of encrypted data harvested now and in coming years could ... be unlocked," said Zach Montague for the Times.

Even as the risks are documented, investors are working to ensure quantum computers can be used on a widespread scale. Curtis Priem, the co-founder of AI chip manufacturer Nvidia, is "looking to establish New York's Hudson Valley as an epicenter of quantum-computing research in the country," the Journal said. Priem has already donated more than $75 million to develop a quantum computing system at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, making it the first college campus in the world with such a device.

Others are looking at the future of the industry through a more financial lens; Illinois legislators will soon be "asked to consider a series of incentives" as part of the state's "intensifying push to become the nation's hub for quantum computing," said Crain's Chicago Business. One of these major proposals is the creation of an "'enterprise zone' that would allow the state to provide quantum companies exemptions from sales, payroll and utility taxes for up to 40 years." If lawmakers in Illinois pass these incentives, there is a high chance that other states could follow.

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Is quantum computing the next technological frontier? - The Week

Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at breakneck pace, with the EU struggling to keep up with the regulatory, competitive and economic implications. But quantum computing is one technology which has the potential to speed up the development of AI where the EU might have the upper hand.

According to data analysed by Science|Business, France, the Netherlands, and Austria are hotspots in the field. Quantum computing is promising to transform a range of other technologies, including AI, and leading organisations in these three countries are preparing for the new wave.

The French National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) tops the pack, winning around 40 million from Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, followed by the Technical University of Delft, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic

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France, Netherlands and Austria lead EU quantum innovators pack - Science Business

In an article recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers investigated the potential of quantum computing technology for solving the automated guided vehicle (AGV) scheduling problem.

Currently, AGVs are used extensively in every aspect of production, transportation, and logistics, which significantly improved industrial intelligence and automation levels and enhanced efficiency. The amount of parallel work AGVs do is increasing to meet the requirements of application scenarios, which greatly increases the AGV scheduling challenges.

The AGV scheduling problem is a challenging combinatorial optimization problem. Although several studies have been performed on AGV scheduling problems covering multiple scenarios like terminals and workshops, finding high-quality scheduling solutions quickly/within a short timeframe remains a major challenge.

Significant progress has been achieved recently in both practical applications and theoretical understanding of quantum computing. Quantum computers' dependence on quantum mechanical principles is their fundamental difference from traditional computers.

Specifically, quantum bits are utilized as fundamental information storage units in quantum computers, which enable these computers to hold substantially more information than traditional computers. Additionally, quantum computers are advantageous for addressing problems like combinatorial optimization. Combinatorial optimization problems can be mapped to the Ising model's ground state search problem.

In this regard, the scheduling problem of AGVs could be considered as a type of routing problem.

Traditional solutions for routing problems often require significant computational resources. However, quantum computing techniques have displayed great potential in solving optimization and routing problems. Although several studies have utilized quantum computing to solve practical optimization problems, quantum computing research on AGV scheduling remains at the nascent stage, with several researchers using simulators to solve them.

In this study, researchers applied quantum computing technology to the AGV scheduling problemand proposed new quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) models that adapt to solving the problem under two separate criteria: minimizing the overall AGV travel time and task completion time/makespan.

Specifically, two types of QUBO models suitable for various AGV scheduling objectives were constructed, and the scheduling scheme was coded into the Hamiltonian operator's ground state. The problem was solved using an optical coherent Ising machine (CIM).

The objective of the study was to effectively meet the requirements of large-scale scheduling.

In traditional AGV scheduling problem research, the computation time significantly increases with the rising number of tasks and AGVs. In practical scenarios, dispatchers set several scheduling objectives based on the nature of the work, with minimizing the total travel time and task completion time being the most common objectives. Thus, researchers constructed the QUBO models based on different objectives and presented the solutions and theoretical underpinnings for each.

The CIM and a traditional computer were used to perform the numerical experiments on the proposed QUBO model and the traditional model, respectively. Gurobi solver was utilized to solve the proposed mixed integer programming (MIP) model on a traditional computer, and its computing performance was demonstrated under various problem scales.

Additionally, an optical quantum computer was employed to solve the arc and node models' problem cases at different scales, and the computation performance was compared with the performance of traditional computers. The components of the CIM used in this study were primarily composed of electrical and optical parts.

The machine's optical part was composed of periodically poled lithium niobate crystals, fiber rings, erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, and pulsed lasers. The electrical part consisted of field-programmable gate arrays, analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog converters, and optical balanced homodyne detectors.

The comparison of the arc and node model performance on a quantum computer with the MIP model performance on traditional computers showed that the solutions obtained using CIM were all optimal. In small-scale examples, the CIM was significantly faster than the traditional computer.

Unlike traditional computers, CIM's computation time did not increase significantly with increasing problem scales. This indicates CIM's great application and development potential. Additionally, little difference was observed in the computing performance between the arc model and the node model on the quantum computer.

Specifically, the node model was slightly faster than the arc model and more universal than the node model. Overall, the experimental results showed that the optical quantum computer could save 92 % computation time on average compared to the traditional calculation method.

To summarize, the findings of this study demonstrated that CIM has significant application potential in solving the AGV scheduling problem and other similar combinatorial optimization problems. However, the benefits of quantum computing in large-scale situations/problems could not be demonstrated due to hardware constraints, which was the major limitation of this study.

Tang, L., Yang, C., Wen, K., Wu, W., Guo, Y. (2024). Quantum computing for several AGV scheduling models. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-62821-6, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-62821-6

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

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Quantum Computing Revolutionizes AGV Scheduling - AZoQuantum

A research team led by Duan Luming at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University in China has built the worlds most powerful ion-based quantum computing system, the South China Morning Post reported. The research achievement paves the way for scalable quantum computers in the future.

Considered the next frontier of computing, quantum computers promise faster computation that could help humanity solve challenges in medicine, astronomy, and climate change. This is achieved by using quantum bits or qubits to store information.

Unlike the classical bits in silicon-based computers, which can either be in an on state or off state, qubits can be both on and off simultaneously while occupying a range of states in between them, also known as superposition. This allows quantum algorithms to process information in a fraction of the time it takes for even the worlds fastest supercomputers.

Researchers are working with various quantum systems to determine the best way to work with qubits.

Ions or charged particles can be suspended using electromagnetic fields and used as qubits in a quantum system. However, previous work in this area has shown that although quantum information can be transferred using the collective motion of the ions, the system isnt suited for scaling up.

Just as scaling silicon-based computers helps achieve complex calculations, scalability is important in quantum computing as well. To overcome this challenge with ions, researchers have used trapped-ion systems instead.

In such a system, researchers use a one-dimensional ion crystal that binds the ions in a lattice structure within, hence the name trapped-ion system. The approach is quite popular among quantum physicists, who have achieved simulation with 61 ions so far.

The researchers in Duans team at Tsinghua University have created a record by achieving stable trapping and cooling of a two-dimensional crystal with 512 ions, a first in the field of quantum science.

The achievement was praised by reviewers as a milestone to be recognised at the journal where Duan and colleagues published their research findings, the SCMP report added.

The feat achieved by the Chinese researchers is important given that scalability with ions has been a problem in quantum computing before. The researchers demonstrated this ability in a stable quantum simulation system, which another reviewer of the paper dubbed the worlds largest simulation.

Quantum simulators are devices that help researchers find answers about quantum model systems by analyzing quantum effects. They are popular tools among researchers because they can help advance scientific knowledge about quantum systems.

The researchers also completed another simulation, using 300-ion qubits to successfully complete a quantum calculation. The SCMP report said that such a systems computational ability was already astronomical and far exceeded the capabilities of classical computers.

The research moves China closer to building large-scale quantum computers in the future, an area in which it is directly competing with the US. Interestingly, Duan, a doctoral student from the University of Science and Technology of China, spent 15 years teaching in the US before returning to China in 2018.

The research findings were published in the journal Nature this week.

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Ameya Paleja Ameya is a science writer based in Hyderabad, India. A Molecular Biologist at heart, he traded the micropipette to write about science during the pandemic and does not want to go back. He likes to write about genetics, microbes, technology, and public policy.

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China builds the world's most powerful ion-based computing machine - Interesting Engineering