Google Quantum AI researchers have reached a significant milestone in quantum computing, developing chips capable of correcting errors below a "critical threshold." Their findings, detailed in the journal Nature, mark a key advancement in the field.

"This is arguably the most significant demonstration of quantum error correction to date," says Professor Stephen Bartlett, a quantum physicist and director of the University of Sydney's Nano Institute, who was not involved in the study.

Figure 1. Google's Quantum Computer.

Quantum computers hold the potential to outperform classical computers significantly in solving specific problems. Unlike classical computers, which use bits to process information, quantum computers operate with qubits that can store and handle far more data. However, current quantum computers remain experimental and lack practical applications due to their susceptibility to noise. Even minor environmental fluctuations can lead to numerous errors in qubits. Figure 1 shows Google's Quantum Computer.

To address this challenge, researchers are exploring "quantum error correction," a method that distributes information across multiple qubits to detect and compensate for errors. This recent breakthrough by Google Quantum AI represents a significant step toward overcoming these obstacles.

Adding more qubits to a quantum computer can also introduce more errors, posing a challenge for researchers aiming to achieve a system that corrects more errors than it generates—a concept known as the "surface code threshold."

“Many research teams and companies have been working toward demonstrating this capability for a long time,” says Professor Stephen Bartlett, a quantum physicist and director of the University of Sydney's Nano Institute, in an interview with Cosmos. “It’s all about proving that quantum error correction—essential for quantum computing—can actually work in practice.”

Google Quantum AI's recent breakthrough represents the first quantum computer to surpass this critical threshold. The researchers utilized their latest quantum chip architecture, called Willow, to develop processors with 72 qubits and 105 qubits. These systems ran code for over 1 million cycles—spanning several hours—while actively correcting errors in real time.

Notably, the team succeeded in reducing the error rate even as the quantum system grew more complex, confirming they had crossed the surface code threshold.

“There have been many previous results demonstrating aspects of quantum error correction,” Bartlett explains. “However, this is the first demonstration of the essential ingredient: showing that increasing the size of the quantum code actually improves performance.”

The authors highlight the implications of their achievement in their Nature paper: “Our results present device performance that, if scaled, could realize the operational requirements for large-scale fault-tolerant quantum algorithms.”

Source: COSMOS

Cite this article:

Priyadharshini S (2024),Google’s Quantum Computer Takes Major Leap Forward, AnaTechmaz, pp. 159