Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) have unveiled a prototype of the Zuchongzhi-3 superconducting quantum computer. This breakthrough system is reported to be 15 orders of magnitude faster than the best contemporary supercomputers and a million times faster than Google's Sycamore quantum processor, based on its most recent publicly available results, Azernews reports.

The Zuchongzhi-3 quantum processor utilizes 105 qubits and 182 connectors, and it has demonstrated significant superiority in random quantum circuit sampling tasks. Notably, the system boasts a remarkable coherence time of 72 microseconds, which allowed it to perform more complex quantum operations with impressive accuracy: 99.90% for single-qubit gates, 99.62% for parallel two-qubit gates, and 99.13% for parallel readout.

To test the chip's performance, the researchers employed the Random Circuit Sampling (RCS) algorithm—a straightforward quantum algorithm that generates random sequences of values. In this experiment, the Zuchongzhi-3 outperformed the Frontier supercomputer by a staggering factor of one quadrillion. For context, last year, Google’s Sycamore processor managed to surpass the Frontier supercomputer by just nine orders of magnitude. While both Sycamore and Zuchongzhi-3 are based on quantum technology, the Chinese system is a million times faster.

In addition to these significant performance gains, the USTC team is actively exploring ways to enhance the technology further. They are particularly focused on improving quantum error correction, quantum entanglement, and scaling quantum systems for practical applications. These advancements are key for realizing the full potential of quantum computing and could have far-reaching implications across various fields, from cryptography to material science and artificial intelligence.

One particularly exciting aspect of this progress is the ongoing work on scaling quantum systems. As qubit numbers increase, the complexity of quantum computations grows exponentially. The Zuchongzhi-3's ability to achieve such high accuracy and coherence in its operations, despite its relatively modest number of qubits, shows that we may be approaching the point where quantum computers can solve problems that are currently beyond the reach of classical supercomputers.

These strides bring quantum computing closer to a practical, real-world breakthrough. Still, many challenges remain, particularly in the areas of quantum error correction and maintaining coherence as qubit counts increase. However, the rapid pace of development, as demonstrated by the Zuchongzhi-3, signals that we are entering a new era in computational power, where quantum systems could eventually outperform their classical counterparts in almost all areas of computation.