Quantum processor is million times faster than supercomputers

Researchers at Chinese University of Science and Technology (USTC) launched a prototype of superconducting quantum computer as faster than the Sycamore quantum processor that Google introduced last year. Called Zuchongzhi-3, the quantum processor of USTC consists of 105 quobit and 182 coupling, showing superiority in random quantum sampling calculations. Compared to it, Google’s Sycamore processor has ever achieved quantum, 67 quobit, Interesting Engineering On 4/3 reported.

When starting to build Exascale supercomputer, scientists sought to build the next generation of computer only a few seconds to perform the calculation that the supercomputer takes many years. They strive to achieve that through using material characteristics at quantum level. American and Chinese researchers are racing to find and show technology superiority in this field. The scientific community said the process of developing quantum computers will consist of three important steps: achieving the dominance of quantum in which quantum computers replace the most advanced computers, develop quantum simulation with hundreds of quobites that can solve the real problem, eventually increasing the accuracy of the results to develop versatile quantum computers.

The United States has a pioneer in quantum computer industry when Google’s Sycamore 53 qubit processor completes random circuit calculations in 200 seconds in 2019. At that time, the world’s fastest supercomputers took up to 10,000 years to complete the same task. However, the team in USTC uses 1,400 A100 GPU chips from NVIDIA to complete the same task in 14 seconds in 2023, surpassing Google. They also developed a quantum processor called “Jiuzhang”, launched for the first time in 2020.

In 2021, the research team at USTC introduced a superconducting quantum computer called “Zuchongzhi 2.1” very similar to the Sycamore processor. In 2023, China showed the advantage of quantum by using a 255 photon processor, 1 million billion faster than the highest speed supercomputer.

While improving Zuchongzhi-2, the research team in USTC increased the number of quobites to 105 to make Zuchongzhi-3 processor. With a combination of 72 micro seconds, the processor can perform more complex calculations. To assess its ability, the researchers conducted a 32 -layer random sampling calculation with 83 qubit. They discovered that this processor was one million times faster than Google’s Sycamore processor. The team has embarked on improving the correction in the processor and achieved other energy capabilities such as simulation and puppet. They are using a two -way network structure to promote the connection between the quablits. The research results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters.