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Quantum computing is increasingly becoming the focus of scientists in fields such as physics and chemistry, and industrialists in the pharmaceutical, airplane, and automobile industries. Globally, research labs at companies like Google and IBM are spending extensive resources on improving quantum computers, and with good reason.

Quantum computers use the fundamentals of quantum mechanics to process significantly greater amounts of information much faster than classical computers. It is expected that when error-corrected and fault-tolerant quantum computation is achieved, scientific and technological advancement will occur at an unprecedented scale.

But, building quantum computers for large-scale computation is proving to be a challenge in terms of their architecture. The basic units of a quantum computer are the "quantum bits" or "qubits." These are typically atoms, ions, photons, subatomic particles such as electrons, or even larger elements that simultaneously exist in multiple states, making it possible to obtain several potential outcomes rapidly for large volumes of data. The theoretical requirement for quantum computers is that these are arranged in two-dimensional (2D) arrays, where each qubit is both coupled with its nearest neighbor and connected to the necessary external control lines and devices.

When the number of qubits in an array is increased, it becomes difficult to reach qubits in the interior of the array from the edge. The need to solve this problem has so far resulted in complex three-dimensional (3D) wiring systems across multiple planes in which many wires intersect, making their construction a significant engineering challenge.

A group of scientists from Tokyo University of Science, Japan, RIKEN Centre for Emergent Matter Science, Japan, and University of Technology, Sydney, led by Prof Jaw-Shen Tsai, proposes a unique solution to this qubit accessibility problem by modifying the architecture of the qubit array. "Here, we solve this problem and present a modified superconducting micro-architecture that does not require any 3D external line technology and reverts to a completely planar design," they say. This study has been published in the New Journal of Physics.The scientists began with a qubit square lattice array and stretched out each column in the 2D plane. They then folded each successive column on top of each other, forming a dual one-dimensional array called a "bi-linear" array. This put all qubits on the edge and simplified the arrangement of the required wiring system. The system is also completely in 2D.

In this new architecture, some of the inter-qubit wiring--each qubit is also connected to all adjacent qubits in an array--does overlap, but because these are the only overlaps in the wiring, simple local 3D systems such as airbridges at the point of overlap are enough and the system overall remains in 2D. As you can imagine, this simplifies its construction considerably.

The scientists evaluated the feasibility of this new arrangement through numerical and experimental evaluation in which they tested how much of a signal was retained before and after it passed through an airbridge. Results of both evaluations showed that it is possible to build and run this system using existing technology and without any 3D arrangement.

The scientists' experiments also showed them that their architecture solves several problems that plague the 3D structures: they are difficult to construct, there is crosstalk or signal interference between waves transmitted across two wires, and the fragile quantum states of the qubits can degrade. The novel pseudo-2D design reduces the number of times wires cross each other, thereby reducing the crosstalk and consequently increasing the efficiency of the system.

At a time when large labs worldwide are attempting to find ways to build large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers, the findings of this exciting new study indicate that such computers can be built using existing 2D integrated circuit technology. "The quantum computer is an information device expected to far exceed the capabilities of modern computers," Prof Tsai states. The research journey in this direction has only begun with this study, and Prof Tsai concludes by saying, "We are planning to construct a small-scale circuit to further examine and explore the possibility."

Research paper

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Wiring the quantum computer of the future - Space Daily

The basic units of a quantum computer can be rearranged in 2D to solve typical design and operation challenges. Efficient quantum computing is expected to enable advancements that are impossible with classical computers. A group of scientists from Tokyo University of Science, Japan, RIKEN Centre for Emergent Matter Science, Japan, and the University of Technology, Sydney have collaborated and proposed a novel two-dimensional design that can be constructed using existing integrated circuit technology. This design solves typical problems facing the current three-dimensional packaging for scaled-up quantum computers, bringing the future one step closer.

Quantum computing is increasingly becoming the focus of scientists in fields such as physics and chemistry, and industrialists in the pharmaceutical, airplane, and automobile industries. Globally, research labs at companies like Google and IBM are spending extensive resources on improving quantum computers, and with good reason. Quantum computers use the fundamentals of quantum mechanics to process significantly greater amounts of information much faster than classical computers. It is expected that when the error-corrected and fault-tolerant quantum computation is achieved, scientific and technological advancement will occur at an unprecedented scale.

But, building quantum computers for large-scale computation is proving to be a challenge in terms of their architecture. The basic units of a quantum computer are the quantum bits or qubits. These are typically atoms, ions, photons, subatomic particles such as electrons, or even larger elements that simultaneously exist in multiple states, making it possible to obtain several potential outcomes rapidly for large volumes of data. The theoretical requirement for quantum computers is that these are arranged in two-dimensional (2D) arrays, where each qubit is both coupled with its nearest neighbor and connected to the necessary external control lines and devices. When the number of qubits in an array is increased, it becomes difficult to reach qubits in the interior of the array from the edge. The need to solve this problem has so far resulted in complex three-dimensional (3D) wiring systems across multiple planes in which many wires intersect, making their construction a significant engineering challenge. https://youtu.be/14a__swsYSU

The team of scientists led by Prof Jaw-Shen Tsai has proposed a unique solution to this qubit accessibility problem by modifying the architecture of the qubit array. Here, we solve this problem and present a modified superconducting micro-architecture that does not require any 3D external line technology and reverts to a completely planar design, they say. This study has been published in the New Journal of Physics.

The scientists began with a qubit square lattice array and stretched out each column in the 2D plane. They then folded each successive column on top of each other, forming a dual one-dimensional array called a bi-linear array. This put all qubits on the edge and simplified the arrangement of the required wiring system. The system is also completely in 2D. In this new architecture, some of the inter-qubit wiringeach qubit is also connected to all adjacent qubits in an arraydoes overlap, but because these are the only overlaps in the wiring, simple local 3D systems such as airbridges at the point of overlap are enough and the system overall remains in 2D. As you can imagine, this simplifies its construction considerably.

The scientists evaluated the feasibility of this new arrangement through numerical and experimental evaluation in which they tested how much of a signal was retained before and after it passed through an airbridge. The results of both evaluations showed that it is possible to build and run this system using existing technology and without any 3D arrangement.

The scientists experiments also showed them that their architecture solves several problems that plague the 3D structures: they are difficult to construct, there is crosstalk or signal interference between waves transmitted across two wires, and the fragile quantum states of the qubits can degrade. The novel pseudo-2D design reduces the number of times wires cross each other, thereby reducing the crosstalk and consequently increasing the efficiency of the system.

At a time when large labs worldwide are attempting to find ways to build large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers, the findings of this exciting new study indicate that such computers can be built using existing 2D integrated circuit technology. The quantum computer is an information device expected to far exceed the capabilities of modern computers, Prof Tsai states. The research journey in this direction has only begun with this study, and Prof Tsai concludes by saying, We are planning to construct a small-scale circuit to further examine and explore the possibility.

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Wiring the Quantum Computer of the Future: Researchers from Japan and Australia collaborate to propose a novel 2D design - QS WOW News

Within the past month, researchers around the world are making landmark discoveries about quantum bits, or qubits.The biggest environmental factor that stands in the way ofquantum computers entering commercial spaces is that qubits have a low tolerance to temperature; previously, they could only operate at temperatures close to absolute zero.

This is because a qubit storing a quantum state will collapse if "observed," or isaffected by external factors. For example, a photon hitting a qubit will cause it to collapse and will offset a thermal vibration from a nearby particle.

This is why many scientists are working on creating quantum systems that can operate above these low temperatures. Such an effort will get them out of the laboratory and into the commercial field.In this article, we will look at recent scientific research that proves that"hot qubits," even up to room temperature, are now a reality.

A team of researchers from UNSW Sydney has worked to solve the problem of absolute-zero qubit requirements and may have a solution that works on regular silicon. The test device is a proof-of-concept quantum processor unit cell that can operate at temperatures up to 1.5 kelvin. While this may still sound extremely cold, it is still 15 times greater than those produced by others, including Google and IBM. The results of this research were published in Nature.

The researchers created quantum chips that can operate in tandem with conventional silicon chips. When these two chips are set beside each other in low temperatures, they can control the read and write operations of quantum calculations.

To prove the viability of the design, another team on the other side of the globe in the Netherlands used the same technology to create a hot qubit, which also functioned as expected. The design utilizes two qubits that are confined in a pair of quantum dotsall of which are embedded in silicon.

What also makes this research groundbreaking is that other laboratories can replicate this temperature featwith a few thousand dollars of equipment. This means that even small companies can accesstheir own quantum computer.

The fact that this technology can be built using silicon technology means that it can readily be integrated into existingelectronic designs, feeding data into such systems and interpreting the results.

On the same day that the Sydney researchers published their findings on "hot qubits," Intel also published its own research on hot qubits. Intel, one of the world's leading suppliers of processorand memory technology, teamed up with QuTech to produce a "hot qubit" that can operate at temperatures up to 1.1 kelvin. While not as high as the UNSW, the 1.1-kelvin mark is still an achievable temperature using low-cost equipment (when compared to absolute zero). The researchers for the project also published their findings in Nature.

The qubit designed by the team has a fidelity of 99.3%that is, ahigh-quality qubit with a large degree of quantum separation between states. However, the performance of the spin qubits is minimally affected when temperatures go to 1.25 kelvin.

The design, which works with standard silicon technology, demonstrates single-qubit control via the use of electron spin resonance and readout using the Pauli spin blockage method. The demonstrated device also shows individual coherent control of two qubits and turnability from 0.5 MHz to 18 MHz.

Because it can be integrated onto standard silicon technology, the qubit developed by Intel and QuTech can incorporate control circuitry and quantum processors onto a single device.

While the Sydney and Intel teams have created qubits that operate at temperatures higher than absolute zero, a team from Russia together with colleagues from Sweden, Hungary, and the USA, have developed a method for manufacturing room-temperature qubits.

According to the research paper in Nature Communications, qubits have been proven to operate at room temperatures when integrated into point defects in diamonds, achieved by substituting a carbon atom with a nitrogen atom. However, producing such diamonds can be an expensive manufacturing task. This is where the Russian lead team has stepped up.

The team determined thatsilicon carbide wasa suitable substitute for diamondwhen a laser was used to hit a defect in the crystal. When bombarded with photons, the defect luminescences and the resultant spectroscopy showsix distinctive peaks (PL1 to PL6).

It is these peaks that show SiC'sability to be used as a qubit and therefore what structure is needed. Thus, their method for creating room-temperature qubits would use a chemical vapor deposition of SiCa low-cost alternative to diamond.

The discovery of SiC's usein quantum qubits has already lead to SiC-basedhigh-accuracy magnetometers, biosensors, and quantum internet technologies.

A hot qubit that can operate on a piece of silicon alongside existingcomponents would revolutionize the computing industry.

While mainstream quantum computers are still a decade or two away, these advancements in qubit technology show how quantum technology will not be stuck in laboratories indefinitely and will eventually be open to the public. How will quantum technologies affect electronic engineers remains unknown since we do not know how far quantum integration will go.

Will they be integrated into microcontrollers? Will devices need to deploy quantum security? Only time will tell.

Continued here:
Hot Qubits are HereAnd They're Propelling the Future of Quantum Computing - News - All About Circuits

As quantum computers continue to grow in size and complexity, engineers are hitting a major obstacle. All of that added machinery means higher temperatures - and if anything can ruin a perfectly good quantum bit, it's heat.

There are a few possible solutions, but any fix needs to be small and compatible with existing silicon technology. Two recently published papers confirm a new device developed by engineers at Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW) could be the way to go.

Early last year, the researchers tentatively announced tiny semiconducting materials called quantum dots could be isolated and still used to carry out the kinds of quantum operations needed for the next generation of computing, all at a relatively toasty 1.5 degrees Kelvin.

"This is still very cold, but is a temperature that can be achieved using just a few thousand dollars' worth of refrigeration, rather than the millions of dollars needed to cool chips to 0.1 Kelvin," says senior researcher Andrew Dzurak from UNSW.

That research has not only now been given the thumbs-up in a peer review, it's also been validated by a second, completely different study conducted by a team from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Having confirmation that this proof of concept device works as theorised should give us confidence that this technology, if not something like it, will be one way we'll scale up quantum computers to increasingly useful sizes.

Where conventional computing uses a binary system of 'bits' to perform logical operations, quantum computing uses the probabilistic nature of quantum states to manage particular calculations.

Those states are most easily represented in the features of tiny (preferably subatomic sized) particles. While in an unmeasured form, these particles can be described mathematically as possessing a blend of characteristics in what's known as a superposition.

The mathematics of superposition particles called qubits when used this way can make short work of algorithms that would take conventional computers far too long to solve, at least in theory.

But to really get the most out of them, qubits should work collaboratively with other qubits, entangling their mathematics in ever more complex ways. Ideally, dozens of qubits should work together if we're to make a quantum computer that's more than just an expensive toy.

Some tech companies claim to be at that point already. For them, the next step is to connect hundreds, if not millions together. It's a lofty goal that presents engineers with a growing problem.

"Every qubit pair added to the system increases the total heat generated," says Dzurak.

Heat risks making a mess of the whole superposition thing, which is why current designs rely so much on cooling technology that freezes particles to a virtual stand-still.

Just adding more heat sinks runs into space and efficiency problems. So Dzurak and his team looked for ways to house a qubit that could handle rising temperatures.

The trick, they found, was to isolate electrons from their reservoir on a pair of nanometre-sized islands called quantum dots, made from silicon metal-oxide.

The electron states can then be set and measured using a process called tunnelling, where the quantum uncertainty of each electron's position allows them to teleport between dots.

This tunnelling within an isolated qubit nest gives the delicate states of the electrons a level of protection against the slightly higher temperatures, while still allowing the system to link in with conventional electronic computers.

"Our new results open a path from experimental devices to affordable quantum computers for real world business and government applications," says Dzurak.

As a proof of concept, it's exciting stuff. But plenty of questions need to be answered before we'll see it marry with existing quantum computing technology.

Cooking qubits at temperatures 15 times warmer than usual seems to work just fine so far, but we're yet to see how this translates to entangled groups, and whether methods for correcting errors still work for a 'hot' qubit.

No doubt researchers will be turning their attention to these concerns in future experiments, moving us ever closer to quantum computers capable of cracking some of the hardest problems the Universe can throw at us.

This research was published in Nature here and here.

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Physicists Successfully Use 'Hot' Qubits to Overcome a Huge Quantum Computing Problem - ScienceAlert

AWS, Microsoft and other IaaS providers have jumped on the quantum computing bandwagon as they try to get ahead of the curve on this emerging technology.

Developers use quantum computing to encode problems as qubits, which compute multiple combinations of variables at once rather than exploring each possibility discretely. In theory, this could allow researchers to quickly solve problems involving different combinations of variables, such as breaking encryption keys, testing the properties of different chemical compounds or simulating different business models. Researchers have begun to demonstrate real-world examples of how these early quantum computers could be put to use.

However, this technology is still being developed, so experts caution that it could take more than a decade for quantum computing to deliver practical value. In the meantime, there are a few cloud services, such as Amazon Bracket and Microsoft Quantum, that aim to get developers up to speed on writing quantum applications.

Quantum computing in the cloud has the potential to disrupt industries in a similar way as other emerging technologies, such as AI and machine learning. But quantum computing is still being established in university classrooms and career paths, said Bob Sutor, vice president of IBM Quantum Ecosystem Development. Similarly, major cloud providers are focusing primarily on education at this early stage.

"The cloud services today are aimed at preparing the industry for the soon-to-arrive day when quantum computers will begin being useful," said Itamar Sivan, co-founder and CEO of Quantum Machines, an orchestration platform for quantum computing.

There's still much to iron out regarding quantum computing and the cloud, but the two technologies appear to be a logical fit, for now.

Cloud-based quantum computing is more difficult to pull off than AI, so the ramp up will be slower and the learning curve steeper, said Martin Reynolds, distinguished vice president of research at Gartner. For starters, quantum computers require highly specialized room conditions that are dramatically different from how cloud providers build and operate their existing data centers.

Reynolds believes practical quantum computers are at least a decade away. The biggest drawback lies in aligning the quantum state of qubits in the computer with a given problem, especially since quantumcomputersstill haven't been proven to solve problems better than traditional computers.

Coders also must learn new math and logic skills to utilize quantum computing. This makes it hard for them since they can't apply traditional digital programming techniques. IT teams need to develop specialized skills to understand how to apply quantum computing in the cloud so they can fine tune the algorithms, as well as the hardware, to make this technology work.

Current limitations aside, the cloud is an ideal way to consume quantum computing, because quantum computing has low I/O but deep computation, Reynolds said. Because cloud vendors have the technological resources and a large pool of users, they will inevitably be some of the first quantum-as-a-service providers and will look for ways to provide the best software development and deployment stacks.

Quantum computing could even supplement general compute and AI services cloud providers currently offer, said Tony Uttley, president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions.In that scenario, the cloud would integrate with classical computing cloud resources in a co-processing environment.

The cloud plays two key roles in quantum computing today, according to Hyoun Park, CEO and principal analyst at Amalgam Insights. The first is to provide an application development and test environment for developers to simulate the use of quantum computers through standard computing resources.

The second is to offer access to the few quantum computers that are currently available, in the way mainframe leasing was common a generation ago. This improves the financial viability of quantum computing, since multiple users can increase machine utilization.

It takes significant computing power to simulate quantum algorithm behavior from a development and testing perspective. For the most part, cloud vendors want to provide an environment to develop quantum algorithms before loading these quantum applications onto dedicated hardware from other providers, which can be quite expensive.

However, classical simulations of quantum algorithms that use large numbers of qubits are not practical. "The issue is that the size of the classical computer needed will grow exponentially with the number of qubits in the machine," said Doug Finke, publisher of the Quantum Computing Report.So, a classical simulation of a 50-qubit quantum computer would require a classical computer with roughly 1 petabyte of memory. This requirement will double with every additional qubit.

Nobody knows which approach is best, or which materials are best. We're at the Edison light bulb filament stage. Martin ReynoldsDistinguished vice president of research at Gartner

But classical simulations for problems using a smaller number of qubits are useful both as a tool to teach quantum algorithms to students and also for quantum software engineers to test and debug algorithms with "toy models" for their problem, Finke said.Once they debug their software, they should be able to scale it up to solve larger problems on a real quantum computer.

In terms of putting quantum computing to use, organizations can currently use it to support last-mile optimization, encryption and other computationally challenging issues, Park said. This technology could also aid teams across logistics, cybersecurity, predictive equipment maintenance, weather predictions and more. Researchers can explore multiple combinations of variables in these kinds of problems simultaneously, whereas a traditional computer needs to compute each combination separately.

However, there are some drawbacks to quantum computing in the cloud. Developers should proceed cautiously when experimenting with applications that involve sensitive data, said Finke. To address this, many organizations prefer to install quantum hardware in their own facilities despite the operational hassles, Finke said.

Also, a machine may not be immediately available when a quantum developer wants to submit a job through quantum services on the public cloud. "The machines will have job queues and sometimes there may be several jobs ahead of you when you want to run your own job," Finke said. Some of the vendors have implemented a reservation capability so a user can book a quantum computer for a set time period to eliminate this problem.

IBM was first to market with its Quantum Experience offering, which launched in 2016 and now has over 15 quantum computers connected to the cloud. Over 210,000 registered users have executed more than 70 billion circuits through the IBM Cloud and published over 200 papers based on the system, according to IBM.

IBM also started the Qiskit open source quantum software development platform and has been building an open community around it. According to GitHub statistics, it is currently the leading quantum development environment.

In late 2019, AWS and Microsoft introduced quantum cloud services offered through partners.

Microsoft Quantum provides a quantum algorithm development environment, and from there users can transfer quantum algorithms to Honeywell, IonQ or Quantum Circuits Inc. hardware. Microsoft's Q# scripting offers a familiar Visual Studio experience for quantum problems, said Michael Morris, CEO of Topcoder, an on-demand digital talent platform.

Currently, this transfer involves the cloud providers installing a high-speed communication link from their data center to the quantum computer facilities, Finke said. This approach has many advantages from a logistics standpoint, because it makes things like maintenance, spare parts, calibration and physical infrastructure a lot easier.

Amazon Braket similarly provides a quantum development environment and, when generally available, will provide time-based pricing to access D-Wave, IonQ and Rigetti hardware. Amazon says it will add more hardware partners as well. Braket offers a variety of different hardware architecture options through a common high-level programming interface, so users can test out the machines from the various partners and determine which one would work best with their application, Finke said.

Google has done considerable core research on quantum computing in the cloud and is expected to launch a cloud computing service later this year. Google has been more focused on developing its in-house quantum computing capabilities and hardware rather than providing access to these tools to its cloud users, Park said. In the meantime, developers can test out quantum algorithms locally using Google's Circ programming environment for writing apps in Python.

In addition to the larger offerings from the major cloud providers, there are several alternative approaches to implementing quantum computers that are being provided through the cloud.

D-Wave is the furthest along, with a quantum annealer well-suited for many optimization problems. Other alternatives include QuTech, which is working on a cloud offering of its small quantum machine utilizing its spin qubits technology. Xanadu is another and is developing a quantum machine based on a photonic technology.

Researchers are pursuing a variety of approaches to quantum computing -- using electrons, ions or photons -- and it's not yet clear which approaches will pan out for practical applications first.

"Nobody knows which approach is best, or which materials are best. We're at the Edison light bulb filament stage, where Edison reportedly tested thousands of ways to make a carbon filament until he got to one that lasted 1,500 hours," Reynolds said. In the meantime, recent cloud offerings promise to enable developers to start experimenting with these different approaches to get a taste of what's to come.

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The future of quantum computing in the cloud - TechTarget