Researchers Unveil First Ever Blueprint To Construct a Large Scale Quantum Computer (phys.org)

haruchai quotes a report from Phys.Org: An international team, led by a scientist from the University of Sussex, have today unveiled the first practical blueprint for how to build a quantum computer, the most powerful computer on Earth. The work features a new invention permitting actual quantum bits to be transmitted between individual quantum computing modules in order to obtain a fully modular large-scale machine capable of reaching nearly arbitrary large computational processing powers. Prof Hensinger said: "The availability of a universal quantum computer may have a fundamental impact on society as a whole. Without doubt it is still challenging to build a large-scale machine, but now is the time to translate academic excellence into actual application building on the UK's strengths in this ground-breaking technology. I am very excited to work with industry and government to make this happen." The computer's possibilities for solving, explaining or developing could be endless. However, its size will be anything but small. The machine is expected to fill a large building, consisting of sophisticated vacuum apparatus featuring integrated quantum computing silicon microchips that hold individual charged atoms (ions) using electric fields. The plans for creating a universal quantum computer has been published in the journal Science Advances.

Comments

Re:MAGA

[skids]

What does this have to do with quantum computing. Oh wait... maybe you're onto something. Trump is a Quantum politician... he's able to occupy a superposition of realities at the same time. It's not that the crowds at the inauguration were larger for Obama, it's that unlike Trump, normal people living in a collapsed state cannot see all the people from the alternative universe.

Worlds Fastest Computer

[ssufficool]

Quantum computers are built for specific workloads. Citing this as potentially the worlds fastest computer is misleading. It more than likely will not be a general purpose computer.

Re:Worlds Fastest Computer

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Not general purpose...fills a whole building...first of its kind...should we call it QUANTIAC?

Re:Worlds Fastest Computer

[WarJolt]

A quantum instruction is still issue by a classical computer and the results of computation are stored in a classical computer. The instructions that are issued are quantum instructions that can solve a very specific part of a problem that can be solved on a quantum computer far more efficiently than on a classical computer. Not all problems fall into this category.

Classical computers turn on and off circuits to do different kinds of computation. The quantum computer does the same thing, but turning on the right circuits cause quantum entanglement.

Re:Worlds Fastest Computer

[BoogieChile]

More importantly, how much closer does it bring us to the computer that can answer the Last Question?

Re:Worlds Fastest Computer

[JoeMerchant]

But can it add 2 + 2?

Yes, but the answer is both 4, and not 4, until you observe the output.

Re:Worlds Fastest Computer

[gweihir]

Well, as usual in such press-releases. I am also more than a bit doubtful about the scaling properties. If you have "modules" in a QC, then you do not have a larger QC, but several smaller ones, a bit similar to a multi-core CPU. Two 32 bit CPUs do not make a 64 bit CPU, similarly with QCs. As QCs scale meaningfully only with the number of entangled bits (you cannot break down computations into ones using smaller data-types), this seems a bit pointless.

Re:Worlds Fastest Computer

[ElectricHellKnight]

Ezekiel 23:20

Nice sig. I just found a new favorite Bible verse.

Re:But

[K. S. Kyosuke]

You won't know until you open the delivery box!

I, for one...

[Anonymous Coward]

...Both welcome and condemn our new quantum overlords.

alternative translation

[raymorris]

I am very excited to work with industry and government to make this happen Alternative Translation: We'll all pay $50 billion dollars for it, it'll go 16 years over the scheduled timeline, and barely work, being less powerful than a Fitbit. Kinda like the border wall Clinton and Schumer voted for a decade ago, which will start being built maybe next year. Government - the original Kickstarter scam.

Re:alternative translation

[ortholattice]

I would much rather see $50 billion spent on a speculative quantum computer than on a wall with Mexico. Even if it doesn't work or is "less powerful than a Fitbit," there will be lessons learned pointing to ways to making it work, and probably far more important, there will be spin-off technology that could dramatically improve our lives in ways not yet known. With a $50 billion Wall, not so much.

Let's face it..

[Patent Lover]

It will be used to unlock a few phones which will hold no useful information.

Facts and alternative facts

[Mostly a lurker]

In the current political climate, a computer that can simultaneously deal with facts and unfacts may have useful applications. In the past, we only needed to keep track of real data. Going forward, it seems we need to simultaneously handle both actual data and what the user wants to be the actual data. Being able to draw conclusions from the superposition of both versions of reality needs to be extended from social media into practical applications.

Obligatory SMBC

[mentil]

This comic is a more in-depth yet accessible explanation of quantum computers than anything I'd ever read on Slashdot.