Feature
Supreme or Unproven?
Despite much recent fanfare, quantum computers still need to show that they can do something useful.
Artist’s rendition of the Sycamore processor mounted in the cryostat. [Forest Stearns, Google AI Quantum Artist in Residence]
Judging by the cover of Nature that day, 24 October 2019 marked a turning point in the decades-long effort to harness the strange laws of quantum mechanics in the service of computing. The words “quantum supremacy,” emblazoned in large capital letters on the front of the prestigious journal, announced to the world that a quantum computer had, for the first time, performed a computation impossible to carry out on a classical supercomputer in any reasonable amount of time—despite having vastly less in the way of processors, memory and software to draw on.
…Log in or become a member to view the full text of this article.
This article may be available for purchase via the search at Optica Publishing Group.
Optica Members get the full text of Optics & Photonics News, plus a variety of other member benefits.