.<\/em><\/p>\nHarnessing the potential of quantum computers<\/h3>\n The cutting-edge technology of quantum computers is evolving exponentially, already rivalling the capabilities of some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated supercomputers; however, due to being incredibly sensitive to external influences, inaccuracies in quantum computers still persist as these outside influences can alter the computation.<\/p>\n
This problem is most pronounced in quantum computations that are far too advanced for conventional computers, in which results can no longer be verified independently through simulation.<\/p>\n
Chiara Greganti, a PhD student from the University of Vienna, said: “In order to take full advantage of future quantum computers for critical calculations, we need a way to ensure the output is correct, even if we cannot perform the calculation in question by other means.”<\/p>\n
Developing a new method<\/h3>\n To mitigate these inaccuracies, the researchers designed a novel cross-check procedure that enables the results of a quantum calculation performed on one device to be corroborated through a similar but fundamentally different calculation on a separate device.<\/p>\n
Martin Ringbauer, a researcher at the University of Innsbruck, said: “We ask different quantum computers to perform different random-looking computations. What the quantum computers don’t know is that there is a hidden connection between the computations they are doing.”<\/p>\n
By employing an alternative model of quantum computing built on the infrastructure of graph structures, the team can produce a range of different computations from a common source.<\/p>\n
Ringbauer said: “While the results may appear random and the computations are different, there are certain outputs that must agree if the devices are working correctly.”<\/p>\n
To test their method, the team tested it on five currently used quantum computers using four distinct hardware technologies; these were superconducting circuits, photonics, trapped ions, and nuclear magnetic resonance. This was conducted to demonstrate that the technique works on a range of current hardware without any special requirements.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the researchers showcased that the method could be used to check a single device against itself. It can achieve this because as the two computations are so different, the results will only agree if they are also correct. A further advantage of the method is that those using it do not have to perform the time-consuming step of observing the entire result of the computation.<\/p>\n
Tommaso Demarie, the CEO and co-founder of Entropica Labs in Singapore, said: “It is enough to check how often the different devices agree for the cases where they should, which can be done even for very large quantum computers.”<\/p>\n
This collaborative endeavour was formed to make quantum computers more trustworthy; as they are becoming increasingly viable for commercialisation, the new method ensures that they meet the performance that they advertise.<\/p>\n
Joe Fitzsimons, the CEO of Horizon Quantum Computing in Singapore, commented: “This close collaboration of academia and industry is what makes this paper unique from a sociological perspective. While there’s a progressive shift with some researchers moving to companies, they keep contributing to the common effort making quantum computing reliable and useful.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers have devised an innovative method for optimising the accuracy of quantum computers, a significant limitation of the technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":14524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24615],"tags":[24208,793],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
New method achieves unprecedented accuracy in quantum computers<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n