Computer achieves quantum supremacy

 In 2011, computer scientist Scott Aaronson of the University of Texas outlined the fundamentals of what a light-based quantum computer would be , but, given the opinion of fellow physicists that it would never work, shelved the project - to see it come to fruition. nine years later. “I didn't think it would happen anytime soon. I take my hat off to them. ” Aaronson was referring to physicists Chao-Yang Lu and Jian-Wei Pan, who made it possible for the quantum computer Jiuzhang to achieve quantum supremacy this Friday (4).

. South China Morning Post / 

This expression refers to the power of a quantum computer to solve problems that classical computers would not be able to - at least, not in a timely manner. In 2019, Google claimed for itself the feat , with Sycamore, which took just three minutes to do the same calculation that would take three days for a supercomputer to achieve the same result.

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While Sycamore uses superconductors to form qubits, in Jiuzhang the photons themselves are the quantum bits. To perform the same calculation that the quantum computer did now, its Chinese colleague Sunway TaihuLight, the third most powerful supercomputer in the world, would take 2.5 billion years.

Built at the China University of  Science and Technology (USTC) in Shanghai, the Jiuzhang has a complicated configuration: a laser in the structure hits 25 crystals made of titanyl potassium phosphate - when hit, each releases two photons in opposite directions. These are then sent along 100 different paths, covering trails made with 300 prisms and 75 mirrors. Finally, they fall into 100 different channels, where they are detected.

The Wikipedia tells us that "a quantum computer is a device that performs calculations by making direct use of quantum mechanical properties, such as overlapping and interference."

Realizing that a universal photonic quantum computer would require millions of lasers, mirrors and other optical devices, the scientific community buried the idea - until Aaronson and physicist Alex Arkhipov, at the time his student, came up with the idea of ​​using the concept of sample sampling. boson: the quantum computer would have only a few lasers, mirrors, prisms and photon detectors.