caption Microsoft is developing both quantum computing hardware and software. source Microsoft Microsoft announced Monday that it’s teamed up with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Washington to create the Northwest Quantum Nexus, to promote quantum computing. The three partners are hosting a summit at the University of Washington Monday and Tuesday to bring together researchers in the field. Northwest Quantum Nexus aims to encourage collaboration in quantum-computing projects and research, as well as address the shortage of skills in the field. Microsoft quantum-computing team is pursuing the area differently than rivals such as Google, IBM, and Intel. Microsoft and some big research institutions are hoping to turn the Pacific Northwest into a hotbed for quantum computing. On Monday, Microsoft Quantum, the company’s research team devoted to the field, announced that it’s … [Read more...] about Microsoft is hoping to turn the Pacific Northwest into ground zero for quantum computing
Programming quantum computers
Harnessing the Power of ‘Spin Orbit’ Coupling in Silicon: Scaling up Quantum Computation
Australian scientists have investigated new directions to scale up qubits—utilising the spin-orbit coupling of atom qubits—adding a new suite of tools to the armory. Spin-orbit coupling, the coupling of the qubits' orbital and spin degree of freedom, allows the manipulation of the qubit via electric, rather than magnetic-fields. Using the electric dipole coupling between qubits means they can be placed further apart, thereby providing flexibility in the chip fabrication process. In one of these approaches, published in Science Advances, a team of scientists led by UNSW Professor Sven Rogge investigated the spin-orbit coupling of a boron atom in silicon. "Single boron atoms in silicon are a relatively unexplored quantum system, but our research has shown that spin-orbit coupling provides many advantages for scaling up to a large number of qubits in quantum computing" says Professor Rogge, Program Manager at the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology … [Read more...] about Harnessing the Power of ‘Spin Orbit’ Coupling in Silicon: Scaling up Quantum Computation
DT Daily: D-Wave wants to help developers make the leap into quantum computing
Quantum computing is one of the most exciting topics in the world of programming today, but it can be a difficult subject for a lot of people to fully wrap their heads around. Fortunately for laymen, a company called D-Wave Systems is working on making quantum computing more accessible. D-Wave’s Murray Thom appeared on DT Daily to talk about the mechanics of quantum computing and how D-Wave is building a platform for people to experiment on and share their discoveries. How does quantum computing differ from normal computing? An ordinary computer stores information as “bits” with values of either 1 or 0. Amassing huge quantities of these bits can create more complex systems. As we explained in a previous feature on quantum computing, a quantum computer instead “works with information that’s stored in quantum bits, or qubits. A qubit can occupy a value of 1, 0, or any quantum superposition of the two states.” That enables a quantum computer to process … [Read more...] about DT Daily: D-Wave wants to help developers make the leap into quantum computing
The Case Against Quantum Computing
Advertisement Editor’s Picks 20 Entangled Qubits Bring the Quantum Computer Closer Quantum Computers Strive to Break Out of the Lab Key Researchers on the Pace and Peculiarities of Developing Quantum Computing—and the Possible End of Bitcoin Quantum computing is all the rage. It seems like hardly a day goes by without some news outlet describing the extraordinary things this technology promises. Most commentators forget, or just gloss over, the fact that people have been working on quantum computing for decades—and without any practical results to show for it. We’ve been told that quantum computers could “provide breakthroughs in many disciplines, including materials and drug discovery, the optimization of complex manmade systems, and artificial intelligence.” We’ve been assured that quantum computers will “forever alter our economic, industrial, academic, and societal landscape.” We’ve even been told that … [Read more...] about The Case Against Quantum Computing
What a quantum computer is, and why it needs to be more
A quantum computer is -- or, perhaps more accurately phrased, would be -- a wholly different order of mechanism than anything the human species has ever constructed. Today, there are working machines that perform some small part of what a full quantum computer may eventually do. Depending upon whom you ask, these are either quantum computing prototypes or "prologues" -- stepping stones toward the real thing.Also: Why Intel's smallest spin qubit chip could be a turning point in quantum computing The goal of quantum computing research is to discover a means of expediting the execution of long waves of instructions. Such a means would exploit an observed phenomenon of quantum mechanics that, when you write it down on paper, doesn't appear to make sense.Why quantum? More on Quantum Computing If this goal is achieved -- if everything that physicists are certain works theoretically, ends up working in the real world -- then mathematical problems that require days' worth of calculation … [Read more...] about What a quantum computer is, and why it needs to be more