Dongda’s optical quantum computer is expected to open in the cloud in one and a half years

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Chinese version: Nikkei Chinese Network) learned that the first real machine of the optical quantum computer of the University of Tokyo is expected to be opened on the cloud in one and a half years. Google and IBM in the United States are developing quantum computers of other methods such as superconducting methods, and the University of Tokyo hopes to achieve higher performance.

Gu Zeming, a professor at the University of Tokyo who released the results

Quantum computers are a new generation of computers that promise to quickly solve complex calculations that are difficult for supercomputers. The units that process information are called “qubits,” and Google and others are developing technology that uses superconducting circuits cooled at extremely low temperatures to perform calculations.

Professor Akira Furusawa of the University of Tokyo is cooperating with NTT and RIKEN to develop an optical quantum computer. Using a “measurement-induced” method, light particles (photons) transmitted through optical fibers are used as qubits. This is an autonomous technology that arranges qubits on the time axis to perform quantum calculations. In the future, it will be possible to improve the calculation performance without expanding the device.

Dongda University and others have developed an optical amplifier that is conducive to the realization of high-performance optical quantum computers. The relevant results were published in the American academic journal Applied Physics Letters on March 6.

The research team will use the advanced optical communication technology developed by NTT and others to increase the calculation speed of the optical quantum computer. In addition to quantum calculations, it is also possible to perform ordinary calculations with higher performance than existing supercomputers.

Professor Gu Ze said that what will be opened on the cloud is a “machine capable of limited quantum computing” under development. The research team expects to have a true optical quantum computer with the ability to correct errors in calculations by 2030.

U.S. companies have been leading the way in the development of quantum computers. IBM first opened up on the cloud in 2016. In 2019, Google solved a problem that would take 10,000 years to use the most advanced supercomputer in about 3 minutes, and achieved a breakthrough called “quantum transcendence”.

Quantum computers, while still under development, are expected to bring innovations to the development of materials and drugs, computing in the financial sector, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the future. Japan is also accelerating research. Riken expects to build Japan’s first domestic superconducting quantum computer within a month.