Srinivas Prasad Sugasani, the vice president of quantum at Microsoft, announced that significant advancements in quantum computing technology will soon reach consumers. 2023 is a watershed moment in the revolution that is quantum computing. Researchers have put forth rigorous effort to identify effective, real-world solutions as far back as the 1980s. Quantum computing’s path has already undergone three separate stages of maturation, each presenting its own set of exciting possibilities and limitations.
This first tier currently features forerunner devices, aptly named noisy, intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers. Such devices have been built to operate with about 1,000 quantum bits, or qubits, but are limited by noise and errors. The second tier consists of compact machines that use several protocols and tricks to efficiently surface these errors and correct them. The third level is a massive keeping-with-very-detailed-mathematical-error-machines at a really wide scale. These advanced systems will soon see hundreds of thousands or millions of qubits, executing millions of quantum operations at an impressive fidelity.
Recent Breakthroughs in Quantum Operations
QuEra’s partners include Harvard, MIT, and the University of Maryland. Combined, they produced some revolutionary outcomes this year. Their work showed you were getting better quantum operations with logical qubits than you were getting with bare physical qubits. This latest progress is a testament to the phenomenal promise of error correction. Additionally, it points to big progress we’ve made in state of the art quantum computing technology.
Srinivas felt very positive for future years. We were so encouraged to hear that Mr. Adler sees 2026 as his and the nation’s goal as well. He’s excited that all the hard work over the last few years is starting to show real dividends! Excitement like this clearly reveals the passion behind the quantum computing community. In general, researchers are excited and hopeful that their years of hard work will soon produce some tangible results.
Jerry Chow, director of quantum systems at IBM Quantum, identifies a big error-corrected machine as an end goal. He argues that it does not take a leap of faith to begin to introduce error correction immediately. We’re all experimenting together. He advocates for a more expansive definition of quantum computing. He thinks practical applications should come first—not simply reaching technological achievements for their own sake.
The Role of Neutral Atoms in Quantum Computing
Neutral atoms, with their distinctive long-range interactions and access to rich internal states, have recently become one of the most promising directions in quantum computing. At the same time, these atoms can be placed extremely close together, the much-studied trapped ions, which increases their usefulness within computations. At present, calculations on atomic systems run orders of magnitude more slowly than their superconducting analogues. They operate at speeds that are about one-hundredth to one-thousandth as quick.
As Boger explained, this is because neutral atoms return answers rapidly. In fact, they outpace superconducting qubits in generating useful results. He explained that when you look at what some call time to solution, it’s not all about clock speed. More importantly, it’s about how quickly and efficiently you can get to a deliverable outcome. He’s convinced that neutral atoms today are where superconducting qubits were five years ago.
The Path Forward for Quantum Computing
QuEra has recently delivered an advanced quantum machine equipped for error correction to Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The firm intends to deliver this technology to customers around the world by 2026. At the same time, Microsoft and other entities with an interest in quantum are working on such level-two QC, built with neutral atoms. On a time-to-solution basis, these machines will need to provide performance equal to superconducting qubits.
Justin Ging also stressed that scalability is still one of the major advantages of neutral atoms in the quantum computing landscape. If there’s one word, it’s scalability. That’s the big advantage of neutral atoms. Companies large and small are experimenting with and investing in this technology. Researchers are optimistic that these combined efforts will set the stage for more developed and applicable quantum computing use cases.
Although quantum computing is an exciting, emerging field, those working in quantum are devilishly aware of the roadblocks on the horizon. They advocate for a shift in priority. Rather than simply hitting technological checkboxes, they’re interested in understanding what we can do better with these innovations. National Lab Director Jerry Chow captured what we think quite nicely on the subject. He contended, “That kind of level framing is a very physics-device-oriented view of the world. We should be approaching it from a computational standpoint.”