Microsoft, Atom Computing, EeroQ update their quantum computing progress

Some quantum computing companies we've covered have done recent progress updates.

See full article...

 

[dmsilev]

But if the wire contains an odd number of conducting electrons—meaning there’s a single unpaired electron—it will end up delocalized to both ends of the wire. (Because quantum mechanics is weird.)

If anyone wants to read about this particular weirdness in more depth, the Wikipedia article on Majorana zero modes is a good starting point.

Given the track record for Majoranas in particular, I'll be skeptical for the time being. It's proven to be a really hard problem.

 

[benwaggoner]

I'd like to just give a shout out to humanity on this one. We're productively and reproducibly manipulating individual subatomic particles! How COOL is that?

 

[Kyuu]

What would happen if this thing all of a sudden appeared in the U.S in 1900 and the government got a hold of it?

Uh, nothing? What a weird question.

 

[Kyuu]

Clearly imagination is not a part of your life.

My imagination is just fine. I question yours if you think that question makes any sense in this context. Unless in your imagination the U.S. in 1900 is something totally divorced from reality. In which case... fine, I guess? Still a totally misplaced and nonsensical question in the context of this article.

 

[Control Group]

I'd like to just give a shout out to humanity on this one. We're productively and reproducibly manipulating individual subatomic particles! How COOL is that?

It's not cool, it's cold. Liquid helium cold. You might think it's cold walk down to the chemist's in winter, but that's just peanuts to liquid helium.

 

[Control Group]

What would happen if this thing all of a sudden appeared in the U.S in 1900 and the government got a hold of it?

??

It wouldn't do anything because we barely have the technology and infrastructure required to make and operate these things today. They don't have the electricity distribution solved, they certainly can't maintain liquid helium, and most important of all they have no comprehension of how to use a computing device of any kind. They wouldn't have any way of knowing what these were even building towards, much less what they could do with them in their current state.

It's sort of like asking what would happen if the US government got a hold of a Starlink satellite in 1910. Or Helion's latest Polaris prototype. Or an ASML litho machine. Or even an RTX 5090. Even making them work is likely beyond the infrastructure they have available, and they lack even the beginning of enough context to understand what they would do if they did work.

To be clear, not because they're dumber than us. It's just that a 5090 without a PC and a monitor doesn't do anything, and it doesn't tell you that it needs a PC and a monitor, or what it would do if it had them. They can't observe the silicon in any useful way; if they take the packaging off, they'll just see a shiny square. The machines in this article don't actually do anything other than demonstrate that they've made some progress in some approaches to making a device based on their respective technologies able to do something useful.

 

[clackerd]

What would happen if this thing all of a sudden appeared in the U.S in 1900 and the government got a hold of it?

Not sure, but based on your question, you might appreciate Rome Sweet Rome

 

[Recovering Academic]

So these are interesting, but one technology I've always wanted to hear more on is missing... John, has there been any word on fully optical quantum computing?

I remember an Ars article a few years back on that (possibly by you?), that seemed like it was making big strides, then it just seems like it went completely silent.

 

[Dr. Jay]

So these are interesting, but one technology I've always wanted to hear more on is missing... John, has there been any word on fully optical quantum computing?

I remember an Ars article a few years back on that (possibly by you?), that seemed like it was making big strides, then it just seems like it went completely silent.

I had a chat with one of the researchers behind what's probably the largest photon-based quantum computing companies out there about a year ago or so (?). He gave me a lot of background on its hardware and how they were hoping to use it, and everyone said they'd be in touch the next time they announced a major milestone or had a good paper. Since then, silence. And this is in a field where I get way more announcements than I can possibly cover.

 

[rflnogueira]

Does the cooling hardware still look like a steam-punk clockmaker fever dream?

 

[cousinitt]

I'd like to just give a shout out to humanity on this one. We're productively and reproducibly manipulating individual subatomic particles! How COOL is that?

Way. Thing is though, they are us and we are they already. And we never had any say in the matter. Until now, maybe. Where/what/who is the real manipulator?

 

[cousinitt]

I had a chat with one of the researchers behind what's probably the largest photon-based quantum computing out there about a year ago or so (?). He gave me a lot of background on its hardware and how they were hoping to use it, and everyone said they'd be in touch the next time they announced a major milestone or had a good paper. Since then, silence. And this is in a field where I get way more announcements than I can possibly cover.

For my money, all non-billions of it, my bets are on quantum computing as the future; AI will be the side-show act. And humanity? Always the main attraction.

 

[mfirst]

Once again confirming that the more I read about QC the less I understand but thank you anyhow for this update

 

[Recovering Academic]

I had a chat with one of the researchers behind what's probably the largest photon-based quantum computing out there about a year ago or so (?). He gave me a lot of background on its hardware and how they were hoping to use it, and everyone said they'd be in touch the next time they announced a major milestone or had a good paper. Since then, silence. And this is in a field where I get way more announcements than I can possibly cover.

Thanks for that update, appreciated. A shame... I'd always thought it had the greatest potential, but if it has been radio silence even to someone who is staying plugged in to the industry, it's not a good sign :/

 

[auldancranky]

Once again confirming that the more I read about QC the less I understand but thank you anyhow for this update

As time goes by in this field, each article is less and less understandable to me. At this stage, I'm just parsing them to see if it sounds like progress or not. When it eventually works, I'll probably just accept it as magic.

 

[trannic]

In its earlier version of its hardware, it used aluminum as a superconductor (the devices are kept near absolute zero). That’s been replaced with lead. The underlying semiconductor was also reformulated to include some tin, which improved the spin-orbit coupling between its electrons and those in the lead.

I always knew that the old reel of 60/40 solder in my tool box would be useful one day.

 

[Tohelo]

My understanding has for a long time been that quantum computing can only be applied to problems of a highly parallel nature that are specifically suited for it, and the hardware needs to be tailored for the problem.

Presumably this might still be the case, even if I haven't noticed the issue being addressed?

 

[LordEOD]

??

It wouldn't do anything because we barely have the technology and infrastructure required to make and operate these things today. They don't have the electricity distribution solved, they certainly can't maintain liquid helium, and most important of all they have no comprehension of how to use a computing device of any kind. They wouldn't have any way of knowing what these were even building towards, much less what they could do with them in their current state.

It's sort of like asking what would happen if the US government got a hold of a Starlink satellite in 1910. Or Helion's latest Polaris prototype. Or an ASML litho machine. Or even an RTX 5090. Even making them work is likely beyond the infrastructure they have available, and they lack even the beginning of enough context to understand what they would do if they did work.

To be clear, not because they're dumber than us. It's just that a 5090 without a PC and a monitor doesn't do anything, and it doesn't tell you that it needs a PC and a monitor, or what it would do if it had them. They can't observe the silicon in any useful way; if they take the packaging off, they'll just see a shiny square. The machines in this article don't actually do anything other than demonstrate that they've made some progress in some approaches to making a device based on their respective technologies able to do something useful.

While I mostly agree, I think they would be a little further along than holding a 5090 and looking at it as simply a brick.

The early 1900s already had brilliant scientists such as Einstein and Tesla and mathematics and general science were more advanced than people give credit for.
Because they didn't have iPhones and GPS doesn't mean they couldn't figure out what those things were if it were explained/demonstrated to them.

The government, getting it hands on something like a 5090, or a starlink sat would've had the resources to pull in that era's minds to figure out what these this are (to an extent).
Would they have ended up playing Subnautica 2 or streaming netflix? Probably not. However, I would say its a good bet that they would've been able to figure out (at least in theory) that a 5090 was an advanced calculator of some sort (designed to fit into a modular style system) and a starlink sat was a receiver/transmitter of some sort (Telsa would've thought they has wireless transmission of energy licked).

By 1910 Einstein had already earned his PHD and was giving lectures at university on topics most people today wouldn't be able to understand - in my opinion, I think the day's minds would've (at least partially) been able to figure things out.
Actually getting them to work as intended in another thing entirely and probably not possible given that time's materials and electrical science states.

 

[Troglodytes troglodytes indigenus]

Once again confirming that the more I read about QC the less I understand but thank you anyhow for this update

Nah, it's just technology. Computers have bits. Quantum computers have qubits.
Computer bits can be static RAM (switches, on or off), dynamic RAM (capacitors, charged or not charged), magnetic domains which move in their container (bubble memory), magnetic domains which stay put in their container (hard discs - in this case the container moves of course but that's irrelevant), etc. etc.. We've had enough experience of these horses by now to shake down which technologies are not really useful, and on what courses the useful ones are useful. We're just doing the same thing with qubits but it tends to rely on different parts of the physics syllabus, it tends to be more expensive, and it tends to need lots of people with post-graduate qualifications to figure out how to build the prototype machinery. At this stage it's basically all prototypes. Once two or three of the technologies show clear paths to commercial application, investment in the, er, field will suddenly increase by orders of magnitude and progress will astonish those of us watching from the sidelines.

 

[wagnerrp]

and most important of all they have no comprehension of how to use a computing device of any kind

Centuries of mathematicians spent their careers generating lookup tables by hand. Do you really believe no one would be able to find a use for a machine that could automate that task? Mechanical calculators were described in the 1700s, and were being built and used by the mid-1800s. Babbage had described his general purpose computer in the 1830s. Thomson was building tide predictors in the 1870s.

 

[oldArsReader]

End of second last paragraph:
“Since the electron’s motional states are quantized, the resonator adopts one >or< two states during the experimental procedure…”

…one >of< two states…?

 

[Meee3]

Nice update on the incremental progress -- thanks.

How about a similar update on fusion. I know there are no breakthroughs yet, but where are the key players today?

 

[Oj17]

All in all, a thought-provoking article that allowed for my own neurons to regenerate (needed to concentrate on what the author was describing). No, seriously, the article was very interesting in how the ongoing advancements in the field of Quantum physics are evolving.

 

[nartreb]

Not sure, but based on your question, you might appreciate Rome Sweet Rome

Off topic, but I think the Wikipedia article's conclusion is too pessimistic. You can do a hell of a lot by combining superiour technology with a bit of bluffing, treachery, a well-timed decapitation strike, and good intelligence about existing factions within an empire. Ask Pizarro or Cortez. (Their resupply issues weren't quite as severe, but I think the point stands.)
I haven't read the story, but I hope there's a chapter about getting an Abrams to run on olive oil. Actually I'd ditch the tanks. You don't actually need any weaponry heavier than an RPG. I'd transfer fuel to the most fuel-efficient vehicles, use those for shock effect. Motorcycles would be great. Oh hey, update the US force just a few years into the future and they should have electric bikes (they make good scouts because they're quiet), and generators. Those generators should be flex-fuel, so my imagined run-a-slave-plantation-to-sustain-your-military-power-via-olive-oil scenario might actually work out economically. (Next step: seize control of Libya Africia and start drilling? You'd have to reinvent some things like Bessemer steel for the drill rigs to work; and source some other key ingredients (rubber for gaskets? Platinum for catalysts?) What am I forgetting? Oh, power for welding the pipelines -- could you get it to work with roman-era clay pipes? Wind power for pumping?

 

[nartreb]

End of second last paragraph:
“Since the electron’s motional states are quantized, the resonator adopts one >or< two states during the experimental procedure…”

…one >of< two states…?

I wondered about that too. Is the resonator in a quantum superposition? Maybe in one state, maybe in another? Or maybe it has one allowable state, maybe it has two?

 

[NoReallyJustSaying]

Do you really believe no one would be able to find a use for a machine that could automate that task?

We're talking about just dropping them a 5090. How would they even figure out how to communicate with it? Build everything needed to get it up and running?

 

[Ed1024]

I had a chat with one of the researchers behind what's probably the largest photon-based quantum computing companies out there about a year ago or so (?). He gave me a lot of background on its hardware and how they were hoping to use it, and everyone said they'd be in touch the next time they announced a major milestone or had a good paper. Since then, silence. And this is in a field where I get way more announcements than I can possibly cover.

Obviously on to something but it’s being suppressed by Big Photon. The Forbidden Wavelengths are real!

 

[GFKBill]

We're talking about just dropping them a 5090. How would they even figure out how to communicate with it? Build everything needed to get it up and running?

In 1900, even the leap to "it's a calculator" is pretty questionable. Talking about Einstein etc doesn't really hand wave away the total lack of comparable technologies they had, what those guys were doing was mathematics. You wouldn't look at a vacuum tube and a 5090 and conclude they had anything in common other than electricity. Calculators were mechanical.

They were 50 years from a basic transistor.

 

[JoHBE]

Gonna have to hold on to my ageing laptop a little longer...

 

[JoHBE]

In 1900, even the leap to "it's a calculator" is pretty questionable. Talking about Einstein etc doesn't really hand wave away the total lack of comparable technologies they had, what those guys were doing was mathematics. You wouldn't look at a vacuum tube and a 5090 and conclude they had anything in common other than electricity. Calculators were mechanical.

They were 50 years from a basic transistor.

And no microscope nearly powerfull enough to reveal the transistor logic...

Sure, they would sense it wasn't a paperweight. But beyond that, they would be mystified, because there would be absolutely no realistic way to provide inputs and study their correlation with outputs.

One hypothesis would probably be a heating device...

 

[KoshcheiTheDeathless]

I'd like to just give a shout out to humanity on this one. We're productively and reproducibly manipulating individual subatomic particles! How COOL is that?

Good for about 20 seconds before needing to drop the new coolest atom into the spotlight, apparently!