Google claims it has achieved a milestone breakthrough in the field of quantum information science after it managed to develop an algorithm capable of executing calculations beyond any conventional supercomputer.
The algorithm, a set of instructions guiding the operations of a quantum computer, succeeded in calculating the structure of a molecule, paving the way for significant discoveries in the medical field and the science of materials, the tech company said in a blog post.
“This is the first time in history that any quantum computer has successfully run a verifiable algorithm that surpasses the ability of supercomputers,” the tech giant said in the post. “This repeatable, beyond-classical computation is the basis for scalable verification, bringing quantum computers closer to becoming tools for practical applications.”
Michel Devoret, the chief scientist at Google’s quantum AI unit, who won the Nobel Prize for physics this month, said the announcement was another milestone in his field. “This marks a new step towards full-scale quantum computation,” he said.
Google, however, admitted that unlocking the full potential of quantum computers remained years away.
The algorithm discovery, which enabled a quantum computer to operate 13,000 times faster than the best supercomputer, was made public during the detailed presentation of a peer-reviewed scientific paper last week, published in Nature.
Despite praising the impressive feat, the professor of quantum technologies at Sussex University, Winfried Hensinger, said it had few practical applications.
Hensinger explained that powerful quantum computers capable of providing solutions to a wide gamut of issues demanded millions of stable qubits (the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing), something the current quantum material is unable to achieve due to highly volatile qubits.
