Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a method that could pave the way to establishing universal standards for measuring the performance of quantum computers.
The new method, called cycle benchmarking, allows researchers to assess the potential of scalability and to compare one quantum platform against another.
“This finding could go a long way toward establishing standards for performance and strengthen the effort to build a large-scale, practical quantum computer,” said Joel Wallman, an assistant professor at Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics and Institute for Quantum Computing. “A consistent method for characterizing and correcting the errors in quantum systems provides standardization for the way a quantum processor is assessed, allowing progress in different architectures to be fairly compared.
Cycle benchmarking provides a solution that helps quantum computing users determine the comparative value of competing hardware platforms and increase the capability of each platform to deliver robust solutions for their applications of interest.
The breakthrough comes as the quantum computing race is rapidly heating up, and the number of cloud quantum computing platforms and offerings is quickly expanding. In the past month alone, there have been significant announcements from Microsoft, IBM and Google.
This method determines the total probability of error under any given quantum computing applications when the application is implemented through randomized compiling. This means that cycle benchmarking provides the first cross-platform means of measuring and comparing the capabilities of quantum processors that is customized to users’ applications of interest.
“Thanks to Google’s recent achievement of quantum supremacy, we are now at the dawn of what I call the `quantum discovery era’, said Joseph Emerson, a faculty member at IQC. “This means that error-prone quantum computers will deliver solutions to interesting computational problems, but the quality of their solutions can no longer be verified by high-performance computers.
“We are excited because cycle benchmarking provides a much-needed solution for improving and validating quantum computing solutions in this new era of quantum discovery.”
Emerson and Wallman founded the IQC spin-off Quantum Benchmark Inc., which has already licensed this technology to several world-leading quantum computing providers, including Google’s Quantum AI effort.
Quantum computers offer a fundamentally more powerful way of computing, thanks to quantum mechanics. Compared to a traditional or digital computer, quantum computers can solve certain types of problems more efficiently. However, qubits—the basic processing unit in a quantum computer—are fragile; any imperfection or source of noise in the system can cause errors that lead to incorrect solutions under a quantum computation.
Gaining control over a small-scale quantum computer with just one or two qubits is the first step in a larger, more ambitious endeavour. A larger quantum computer may be able to perform increasingly complex tasks, like machine learning or simulating complex systems to discover new pharmaceutical drugs. Engineering a larger quantum computer is challenging; the spectrum of error pathways becomes more complicated as qubits are added and the quantum system scales.
Characterizing a quantum system produces a profile of the noise and errors, indicating if the processor is performing the tasks or calculations, it is being asked to do. To understand the performance of any existing quantum computer for a complex problem or to scale up a quantum computer by reducing errors, it’s first necessary to characterize all significant errors affecting the system.
Wallman, Emerson and a group of researchers at the University of Innsbruck identified a method to assess all error rates affecting a quantum computer. They implemented this new technique for the ion trap quantum computer at the University Innsbruck and found that error rates don’t increase as the size of that quantum computer scales up a very promising result.
“Cycle benchmarking is the first method for reliably checking if you are on the right track for scaling up the overall design of your quantum computer,” said Wallman. “These results are significant because they provide a comprehensive way of characterizing errors across all quantum computing platforms.”
Learn more: Researchers reach milestone in quantum standardization
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Cycle benchmarking
[google_news title=”” keyword=”cycle benchmarking” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Cycle benchmarking
- Ryan Lewis Appointed National Sales Manager for SP Connect’s Powersports Divisionon April 26, 2024 at 8:44 am
SP United USA, Inc. announces the appointment of Ryan Lewis as the National Sales Manager for the powersports division of SP Connect.
- U.S. PCE data: Wells Fargo sees another 10% upside in S&P 500on April 26, 2024 at 5:52 am
U.S. core PCE inflation was up more than expected in March. Wells Fargo lifts its year-end target on S&P 500 to 5,530.
- The CHRO of Hilton credits their 93% engagement rate to a strong ERG culture and a ‘virtuous cycle’ of niche benefitson April 25, 2024 at 3:55 am
Hilton’s mental health, financial, and caregiving programs have created highly engaged and loyal workers, according to HR head Laura Fuentes.
- Hilton credits their 93% engagement rate to a strong ERG culture and a ‘virtuous cycle’ of benefitson April 24, 2024 at 11:55 pm
Workers are back in the office and business is carrying on as usual, but many employers are secretly struggling with a tired and disengaged workforce. Around 82% of employees are at risk for burnout ...
- Colombia's central bank seen cutting benchmark interest rate to 11.75% in April:Reuters pollon April 24, 2024 at 7:42 am
The board of Colombia's central bank is forecast to cut its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points for a second consecutive month at its April meeting, to support the country's economic recovery ...
- Nifty, Sensex gain for fourth straight day; key Q4 earnings to guide marketon April 24, 2024 at 2:46 am
The Nifty and the Sensex traded flat in the afternoon. Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks, with BSE midcap and smallcap indices rising nearly a percent ...
- Asia Dragon underperforms benchmark as Chinese equities falteron April 23, 2024 at 2:52 am
Asia Dragon therefore underperformed the benchmark MSCI All-Country Asia ex Japan Index which delivered a 3.7% return over the same period. NAV per share, on a capital return basis, fell 0.2% to ...
- Dogecoin (DOGE) Price Prediction – Will Dogecoin Hit the $2 Benchmark?on April 22, 2024 at 8:29 pm
Amid the gloomy outlook, top crypto analysts predict a rally to $2 for Dogecoin. But the question now is: Can DOGE really go that high?
- Paraguay breaks rate cutting cycle, citing Fed, oil price riskon April 22, 2024 at 3:04 pm
Paraguay's central bank on Monday decided to hold its benchmark interest rate at 6%, pausing a monthly rate-cutting cycle that had been in place since August amid uncertainties over U.S. monetary ...
- Best mutual funds: 86% of actively-managed schemes outperformed benchmarks in MC30’s 2023 runon April 21, 2024 at 6:28 pm
Moneycontrol’s curated list of 30 investment-worthy mutual funds is back. Three new schemes enter MC30 and three among existing ones, exit ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Quantum discovery
[google_news title=”” keyword=”quantum discovery” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Quantum discovery
- Quantum Breakthrough: Researchers Unlock New Realms in 1D Superconductivityon April 27, 2024 at 7:14 am
Researchers at the University of Manchester have made a major advancement in superconductivity by successfully maintaining robust superconductivity under high magnetic fields in a new one-dimensional ...
- Unveiling a new quantum frontier: Frequency-domain entanglementon April 26, 2024 at 9:03 am
Scientists have introduced a form of quantum entanglement known as frequency-domain photon number-path entanglement. This advance in quantum physics involves an innovative tool called a frequency beam ...
- Research demonstrates a new mechanism of order formation in quantum systemson April 26, 2024 at 8:00 am
Researchers Kazuaki Takasan and Kyogo Kawaguchi of the University of Tokyo with Kyosuke Adachi of RIKEN, Japan, have demonstrated that ferromagnetism, an ordered state of atoms, can be induced by ...
- Enhancing Atomic Clock Accuracy with Superradiance: A New Discoveryon April 25, 2024 at 5:27 pm
Atomic clocks, the paragon of precision time measurement, might soon become even more accurate thanks to a quantum process known as superradiance. These time-keeping marvels operate by measuring the ...
- A new kind of experiment at the LHC could unravel quantum realityon April 25, 2024 at 2:50 am
The Large Hadron Collider is testing entanglement in a whole new energy range, probing the meaning of quantum theory – and the possibility that an even stranger reality lies beneath ...
- Creating quantum sensors - chemistry meets physicson April 24, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Ben King didn’t set out to create a long-sought after material to be used in quantum sensing devices, but life, like quantum science, can be weird. King, a professor in chemistry at the University of ...
- Comprehensive model unravels quantum-mechanical effects behind photoluminescence in thin gold filmson April 19, 2024 at 5:32 am
EPFL researchers have developed the first comprehensive model of the quantum-mechanical effects behind photoluminescence in thin gold films; a discovery that could drive the development of solar fuels ...
- Future quantum computers could use bizarre 'error-free' qubit design built on forgotten research from the 1990son April 19, 2024 at 3:00 am
Qubits can be made by floating a suspended electron over a pool of liquid helium rather than being embedded them a solid-state crystal — which leads to impurities and errors.
- Microsoft And Quantinuum Improve Quantum Error Rates By 800xon April 18, 2024 at 5:22 pm
Microsoft and Quantinuum researchers have achieved a significant improvement in quantum error correction that could pave the way for more powerful quantum computers.
- Ultrafast laser-powered 'magnetic RAM' is on the horizon after new discoveryon April 17, 2024 at 3:15 am
Researchers have found an elemental physical interaction between light and magnetism that might lead to the next generation of computing memory.