In the bragging technology project of “always making progress and never landing” in the early 21st century, the room temperature quantum computer finally broke away from this list, and the world’s first truly installed and practical sample was finally realized! By the way, Singapore also said it would spend 100 million to develop its own quantum computer.
Quantum computing is arguably one of the most exciting (and hyped) areas of research right now. In this regard, Quantum Brilliance, a German-Australian start-up, has done something big recently. The world’s first diamond-based room temperature quantum computer was successfully installed in distant Oceania!
World’s first commercial room-temperature quantum computer
Simply put, this quantum computer from Quantum Brilliance does not require absolute zero degrees nor a complex laser system. So, why is room temperature a thing worth taking out and talking about? The basic idea of a quantum computing system is that qubits can be in a state that is not just “1” or “0”, but some combination of states called “superpositions”. This means that two qubits can be in a superposition of “01”, “10”, “11” and “00”, which can represent more states and data. But here comes the problem, these systems are still very sensitive to their environment, and qubits can only maintain a given superposition state for a very limited time, the “coherence time”. A bounded coherence time, on the other hand, can lead to errors in the calculations performed by the qubits. In conventional quantum computers, special cooling methods are required to ensure quantum coherence, while room-temperature quantum computers can omit this step. Quantum coherence, or in other words, the property that particles must behave like waves (wave properties), is the basis of all quantum effects.
So, how did Pawsey achieve room-temperature quantum computer operation?
This is to mention the unique quantum computing method used by Quantum Brilliance.
They took advantage of the naturally occurring nitrogen hole centers in synthetic diamond without using traditional ionic chains, silicon quantum dots, or superconducting transport qubits.
Nitrogen vacancy refers to a defect in the diamond lattice that consists of surrogate nitrogen atoms adjacent to the vacancy.
These nitrogen-hole centers have the ability to photoluminescence, which can read the spin of the qubit according to the characteristics of the emitted light, and no longer need to interact directly with the qubit. Many techniques, such as magnetic fields, electric fields, microwave radiation, and light, can be used to directly manipulate the electron spin of nitrogen holes. Diamond lattice structure with nitrogen cavities According to the company’s previously published white paper, a diamond quantum computer operating at room temperature consists of an array of processor nodes.
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Each processor node consists of a nitrogen-hole (NV) center and a cluster of nuclear spins: intrinsic nitrogen nuclear spins and up to four nearby 13C nuclear spin impurities.
The nuclear spin, on the other hand, acts as the qubit of the computer, and the nitrogen hole acts as the quantum bus, mediating the initialization and readout of the qubit, as well as multi-qubit operations within and between nodes.
In 2021, the demonstrated initialization and readout fidelity exceeds 99.6%, while the gating fidelity of single-qubit and two-qubit exceeds 99.99% and 99%, respectively, and the corresponding gating time is about 10 microseconds.
Work has shown that using more advanced quantum control techniques, gate fidelity can exceed 99.999%, and gate operation time can be less than 1 microsecond.
This precision cannot be achieved using existing “top-down” nitrogen ion implantation techniques to create NV centers due to implant mask fabrication limitations and scattering of implanted ions.
One of Quantum Brilliance’s key inventions is a “bottom-up” technology for the precise fabrication of atomically-scale diamond that circumvents these limitations through surface chemistry and lithography. Another important invention is the integrated quantum chip, which miniaturizes and integrates the electrical, optical and magnetic control systems of the diamond quantum computer.
However, according to the white paper, the system has only 5 qubits, which is clearly a far cry from Google’s 72 qubits.
Quantum accelerator + supercomputing = ?
Most quantum computing work is now done in simulated environments on platforms such as IBM’s Quiskit and Nvidia’s cuQuantum initiative. Moreover, the current mainstream of quantum computers is mainframes, which are large in terms of size. Existing products usually occupy an area of several square meters, or even the size of a room. This is because various quantum hardware limits the size of mainframes, which are large, fragile machines that require ultra-low temperature and/or ultra-low pressure and complex control systems to operate. Without room-temperature quantum computers, it would be a situation where there are several quantum mainframes in every supercomputing and cloud computing facility around the world, but scaling to the point of widespread use is not yet possible. Deploying room-temperature quantum computers in supercomputing centers will allow researchers to truly take advantage of on-site computing, maintenance, and integration.
At the same time, the collaboration with the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Center is also aimed at accelerating the pairing of quantum and classical systems by establishing an initial hybrid environment that can diagnose bottlenecks and enable possible improvements in quantum-classical integration.
Pawsey executive director Mark Stickells said integrating quantum accelerators into the HPC architecture will help its 4,000 researchers learn more about how the two systems can work together.
This will provide a test bed where practical applications can be demonstrated, so our researchers can work more efficiently – advancing quantum science and accelerating future research. “This is a critical step towards the future of hybrid computing.”
Spending more than 100 million: Singapore to build the first quantum computer
On May 31, at the Asia Tech x Singapore, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policy and Chairman of the National Research Foundation Heng Swee Keat announced the official launch of the Quantum Engineering Program (QEP). Singapore will unite three national platforms to develop capabilities in quantum computing, quantum secure communications and quantum device manufacturing. According to Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 Plan, the plan invests S$23.5 million (about 114 million RMB) into the three platforms for a maximum period of 3.5 years. These platforms will receive further support from across the research field.
The three national quantum platforms, hosted by the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) of Singapore, are:
National Center for Quantum Computing – to develop quantum computing capabilities and explore applications through industry cooperation;
National Quantum Fabless – Microfabrication Technology Supporting Quantum Devices and Enabling Technologies
National Quantum Security Network – A nationwide trial of quantum-secure communications technology aimed at enhancing the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure.
National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCH) NQCH will bring together the expertise of the Centre for Quantum Technology (CQT) teams at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, A*STAR’s Institute for High Performance Computing (IHPC) and Singapore’s National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) and resources to build a quantum computing ecosystem in Singapore. National Quantum Fabless Fab (NQFF) The National Quantum Fabless Fab (NQFF), based at A*STAR’s Institute for Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), will support QEP’s three pillars of quantum computing, communications and sensing, in Micro- and nanofabrication of quantum devices. It will also develop enabling devices related to Singapore’s strategic needs in the quantum technology ecosystem. National Quantum Security Network (NQSN) The NQSN, announced in February 2022, will conduct nationwide trials of quantum-secure communications technology, providing robust cybersecurity for critical infrastructure and companies handling sensitive data. The initiative is led by CQT along with the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, with more than 15 private and government collaborators.
In this regard, Professor José Ignacio Latorre, Director of CQT at the National University of Singapore and Principal Investigator of NQCH, commented: “Quantum computing is coming. The question is not ‘when’, but ‘who will be ready to use this technology’.”
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