By TAKAHIRO TAKENOUCHI/ Staff Writer
November 9, 2024 at 17:38 JST
The optical quantum computer developed by a team that included researchers from the Riken research institute and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (Provided by Riken research institute)
Japanese researchers have helped develop an optical quantum computer that has the potential to drastically reduce the size of the next-generation computer and do even faster calculations.
Because a huge range of highly complex calculations can be done at once, the computer could be applied to artificial intelligence research.
Outside researchers will also be able to access it through internet cloud systems, said the team from the Riken research institute and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.
They announced the breakthrough, made in conjunction with other entities, on Nov. 8.
Utilizing the principles of quantum mechanics, quantum computers are made up of quantum bits, or qubits. It has been said that a true quantum computer would require about 1 million qubits.
The first domestic quantum computer developed by Riken had 64 qubits. The one developed by IBM that is said to be the world’s largest has about 1,000 qubits.
Reducing the size of the quantum computer so more qubits could be accommodated was considered the main hurdle to development.
Qubits until now were made based on superconductivity.
The Riken team said it developed an optical method in which light is handled like a qubit to enable many qubits to be packed into a single machine without having to create a gigantic framework.
The quantum computer completed at the Riken lab measures 4.2 meters by 1.5 meters but can simultaneously conduct calculations using about 100 different figures.
Team members said the computing function of the new Riken quantum machine is equivalent to one using superconductivity that has 1,000 qubits.
The new machine is also compatible with a calculating method known as a neural network because it copies the links found in human cranial nerves.
The team said it hopes that characteristic will spur further AI research as well as greater energy conservation in operating the machine.
“I believe the optical method will lead to a quantum computer that truly becomes widely used,” said Akira Furusawa, a professor of quantum computing at the University of Tokyo who is team leader of the project.
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