Recently, the quantum research team at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom claimed that it has greatly shortened the time to simulate optical quantum computers, which is about 1 billion times faster than previous methods. The results were published in Science Advances.
Image from Science Advances
Quantum computers are expected to accelerate exponentially on a number of issues, with potential applications in areas ranging from drug discovery to new battery materials. At present, "quantum hegemony" has attracted much attention, that is, the ability of quantum computers to perform tasks even exceeds that of the world's most powerful supercomputers.
In December 2020, the prototype of the "Nine Chapters" optical quantum computer developed by the team of the University of Science and Technology of China achieved "quantum superiority" when solving the "Gaussian Boson Sampling" (GBS) problem. The experiment, which was completed in 200 seconds, would take 600 million years to complete if simulated with the world's most powerful supercomputer.
Gaussian Bose Sampling (GBS) is an advanced method for measuring photons in highly entangled Gaussian states.
This time, the University of Bristol Quantum Engineering Technology (QET) laboratory team, in collaboration with Researchers at Imperial College London and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, proposed a faster classical GBS simulation method that shortens the simulation time to just a few months and has an acceleration factor of about 1 billion. The team tested on a supercomputer with about 100,000 cores to simulate GBS experiments with up to 100 modes and up to 92 photons, and introduced an efficient classical sampling distribution and passed multiple GBS verification methods.
Schematic diagram of the algorithm and threshold detector sampling method, picture from the paper
At the same time, other experimental teams claiming "quantum supremacy," such as Google's quantum computing team, are also improving simulations of such experimental classical algorithms.
Bryn Bell, senior quantum engineer at Oxford Quantum Circuits and co-first author of the paper, said: "As researchers conduct experiments on a larger scale, they are more eager for 'quantum superiority' over classical simulations. Our results will provide an important point of comparison for determining the computing power of future GBS experiments. ”
Jake Bulmer, a PhD student and co-first author at QET Labs, argues that these "quantum superiority" experiments represent a huge achievement in physics and engineering. Anthony Laing, co-director of the lab, said that as humans develop more complex quantum computing technologies, such work will help people understand the obstacles that must be overcome in the future, especially in solving clean energy and healthcare problems, "This study is a good example of this study in collaboration with HP enterprise researchers." ”