Recently, Israel's first self-built quantum computer was launched, developed by the Weizmann Institute of Science.
In mid-February, Israel's Innovation Agency (IIA) and Ministry of Defense announced that they would invest about $62.2 million to develop the country's first quantum computer for research and development in academia, high-tech industries and security institutions. Israel hopes to lay the foundation for quantum technology and build independent quantum computing capabilities.
Just over a month after the announcement, Professor Roee Ozeri of the Weizmann Institute for Scientific Research led a team to successfully build Israel's first quantum computer. This is a 5-qubit ion well quantum computer, roughly equivalent to the level of research and development ibmim when it first provided quantum computing cloud services. The results were published in the Journal of the American Physical Society, The Review of Physics, Series X - Quantum (PRX Quantum).
The first Israeli quantum computer developed by the Weizmann Institute of Science, image by Freddy Pizanti
The team says there are currently fewer than 10 ion trap-based quantum computers in the world. Quantum computers are expected to reach levels of complex computation that even the most powerful classical computers cannot, which is known as "quantum advantage." Since quantum computers follow the laws of quantum mechanics, qubits can appear simultaneously in multiple locations or multiple states through quantum superposition properties. This enables quantum computers to make calculations in parallel, enabling powerful computing power. Quantum computing will also lead to a range of applications, from developing unbreakable codes and predicting market volatility to accelerating the development of new drugs, materials, and AI systems.
So far, only two teams of quantum computers from Google and the University of Science and Technology of China have been able to achieve "quantum advantages."
In response, the Weizmann Institute of Science is developing the next generation of more powerful quantum computers, which will demonstrate Israel's "quantum advantage" with 64 qubits. The team plans to name it WeizQC in honor of the WEIZAC computer built by the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1955 — one of the earliest computers in the world.
Professor Ozeri said one of the biggest challenges encountered in the study was that quantum computers were extremely sensitive to ambient noise, hindering the construction of large, complex computer systems. To date, the team has applied two innovative technologies to solve this problem.
Ion trap-based qubits can be switched between different states, a process done with lasers. Such qubit-based operations are called logic gates. Complex computations involve multiple quantum gates, but this operation is sensitive to ambient noise, and even small ambient noise can cause the system to lose its quantum properties. To prevent this, the team developed a laser pulse pattern that maintains the robustness and stability of the logic gate.
Optics need to generate laser pulses to control the trapped ions, image courtesy of Freddy Pizanti
In addition, quantum error correction is also one of the important steps, which requires measuring qubits. But measurements inevitably cause the system to lose certain quantum properties. The general solution is to measure only partial qubits. In an ion trap quantum computer, measuring qubits is generally determined by scattering light generated by irradiation ions to determine the state of qubits.
The team took a camera array-based approach that detected all qubits simultaneously, replacing a light detector that captured the state of individual ions. To protect the quantum properties of the system, they hid some qubits from the camera. At the same time, the team also developed a method to solve the problem of slow data processing related to camera arrays by adding electronic circuits to quickly read and process the information obtained by the camera, speeding up error correction.