IBM scientists are bringing quantum computing to the masses. The chip giant has erected a research lab in New York housing a five-qubit quantum computer that for the first time gives anyone access from their desktops or mobile devices through a cloud platform.
Called IBM Quantum Experience, the development is not a full complete quantum processor just yet (this so far still doesn't exist) but the one-of-a-kind system represents the latest advancement in quantum architecture.
Being a cloud-enabled quantum computing platform, it's the first time users are able to run algorithms and experiments, and work with the individual quantum bits (qubits) to explore what new things might be possible with quantum computing.
"The idea is that people can get their hands on a real quantum processor then start exploring the weirdness of quantum mechanics, then do that at home in simulation, in class at university, or in a company, by playing around by a real quantum system and running experiments on it in the cloud," IBM's nanoscale physics researcher, Andreas Fuhrer, told WIRED.
Fuhrer said while the Quantum Experience is not yet a complete quantum computer, it's a step closer to building a universal quantum computer thanks to its "five superconducting qubits" that can scale to larger quantum systems.
"The development of a 50-100 qubits machine in the next five or so years, something that will be able to make calculations that no supercomputer can do today."
Fuhrer added that once a universal quantum computer is reached, those taking advantage of the power would be able to have a big impact on new scientific findings, specifically new drug discovery. "If you go to the molecular or atomic scale, nature is quantum-mechanic, so in order to be able to model these processors, for example in a new pharmaceutical drug, to find out how reactions take place, we need to move onto mechanic," he explained.
[ImageLibrary##629043] "At the moment we can either do approximations of quantum mechanics, or we can look at very small systems exactly, and know that there's something like 50 qubits. The complexity of quantum computing is so big it cannot be compared with classical computers. That's the potential: quantum computers can speed up and offer more accurate research, giving power that is currently not available."
Once quantum computing is fully up and running – Fuhrer said a universal quantum computer will likely take over a decade or so before it is built – it could usher in a new era of innovation across industries. This leap forward in computing could not only lead to the discovery of new pharmaceutical drugs, but could also unlock new facets of artificial intelligence, develop new materials science to transform industries, and search large volumes of big data.
But for now, IBM believes Quantum Experience will make it easier for researchers and the scientific community to accelerate innovations in the quantum field, and help discover new applications for this technology. According to the firm, there will be two communities wanting to take advantage of quantum computing, especially in Europe. "A lot of companies that can start to think about what this can mean for them, offering them the first kind of opportunity to really start to explore how quantum mechanics works; how a quantum computer may work in the future and what it may do for them and their business," explained Fuhrer. "The other side is education. For example, schools and universities that already have quantum programs can have hands-on real quantum processor as no one has those processors in their laps at the moment, can play around and perform experiments."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
