Quantum computing news is typically slow to emerge at the end of each year as companies try to demonstrate their progress. However, this summer has seen several significant announcements, including a promise from Amazon and QuEra that they will achieve useful quantum error correction by 2028.
This timeline is unusually ambitious given that many experts believe it will take five to ten years to develop reliable quantum computers. Error correction is essential for performing complex calculations on a large scale, as current hardware qubits are prone to errors. To correct these errors, researchers use logical qubits, which store redundant information and can detect when mistakes occur.
To achieve useful computation, thousands of high-quality hardware qubits are needed. Currently, existing technologies offer either high quality or lots of qubits but not both. Amazon and QuEra’s promise to bring a device capable of executing one million quantum operations over hundreds of logical qubits to market by 2028 is therefore surprising.
The companies claim that their Libra system will be capable of performing first scientific applications in quantum chemistry, high-energy physics, and materials simulation beyond the reach of classical and Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers. The technology behind Libra is neutral atom quantum computing, which uses lasers to cool individual atoms and trap them in a grid of overlapping light beams.
QuEra’s academic partners have demonstrated a 3,000 qubit grid using this technology, but the operation of these systems tends to heat the atoms and moving them around is slow. Despite some impressive error correction demonstrations, there is still considerable work to be done to achieve high-quality systems.
The timing of Amazon’s announcement is frustrating because QuEra intends to lay out a detailed roadmap for its Libra system next week. We have been promised a full briefing ahead of that, but for now, all we can say is that the two companies involved are not prone to hype and probably wouldn’t be announcing this if they didn’t have good reasons to expect things to work out.
In related news, Quantinuum announced its next quantum computing hardware, named Helios, based on trapped ion technology. This system has some similarities with neutral atom quantum computing but relies on electronics to move around ionized versions of the atoms. The company provides a more detailed technical description of Helios in the latest issue of Nature.
The paper offers some additional details about the cooling process for the ions and how it can be run in parallel to other operations. This allows for nearly continuous cooling and sorting cycles, which is an improvement over existing systems.
It remains to be seen whether Amazon and QuEra’s promise will be fulfilled by 2028. The companies’ track record suggests that they are not prone to hype, but the timeline is unusually ambitious given the current state of quantum computing technology.
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