![]() ![]() I have seen vague claims about how NISQ could be used for fast optimization or even for AI training. But despite a constant drumbeat of NISQ hype coming from various quantum computing startups, the commercialization potential is far from clear. Using NISQ is surely an excellent new fundamental research idea-it could help physics research in fundamental areas such as quantum dynamics. Other NISQ triumphs are recent experiments simulating random quantum circuits, again a highly specialized task of no commercial value whatsoever. It also did not reveal anything about the fundamental physics of time crystals. The experiment was an impressive showcase of electronic control techniques, but it showed no computing advantage over conventional computers, which can readily simulate time crystals with a similar number of virtual qubits. I am not sure what this object is: How noisy? How many qubits? Why is this a computer? What worthy problems can such a NISQ machine solve?Ī recent laboratory experiment at Google has observed some predicted aspects of quantum dynamics (dubbed “time crystals”) using 20 noisy superconducting qubits. The great difficulty in getting rid of decoherence has led to the impressive acronym NISQ for “noisy intermediate scale quantum” computer-for the idea that small collections of noisy physical qubits could do something useful and better than a classical computer can. Physicists are smart as we all know (disclosure: I am a physicist), and some physicists are also very good at coming up with substantive-sounding acronyms that stick. ![]() It is unclear whether extensive quantum error correction or topological quantum computing (or something else, like a hybrid between the two) will be the eventual winner. But it turns out that developing topological quantum-computing hardware is also a huge challenge. There are in fact ideas, and I played some role in developing the theories for these ideas, for bypassing quantum error correction by using far-more-stable qubits, in an approach called topological quantum computing. ![]()
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