Contact: Will Kwong at willkwon@usc.edu; USC Media Relations at uscnews@usc.edu or (213) 740-2215
Major quantum computing breakthroughs are making headlines, with the announcement of Google Willow earlier this month and expectations that the technology could become more widely used over the coming years.
Google’s quantum chip, Willow, completed a mathematical problem designed to test its problem-solving potential in less than five minutes—something a traditional supercomputer could not complete in 10 septillion years.
Many experts are confident that quantum computing may revolutionize industries by tackling problems that traditional computers cannot solve. USC scientists are available to talk about the technology and where it is headed.
Quantum’s roadblock: error correction
Daniel Lidar
Viterbi Professorship of Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics and Astronomy at USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Expertise: error correction, quantum algorithms, quantum advantage, experimental quantum machines and academic labs
Contact: willkwon@usc.edu
“One of my areas of focus in quantum computing is `quantum algorithmic speedup,’ the milestone where a quantum computer can solve problems with an advantage relative to even the most powerful non-quantum computer, and that advantage grows as the problem gets harder,” says Daniel Lidar. “Error correction is essential for quantum computers to function well and become useful. Errors occur when a quantum system interacts with its external environment and loses it delicate quantum characteristics. It’s the biggest challenge quantum computing faces.”
“The discussion of Google’s new experimental machine and quantum computer chip, Willow, is fascinating. The experimental machine uses error correction: a critical technique designed to protect quantum information from errors caused by decoherence and other quantum system disruptions.”
The difference between quantum computing and traditional computing
Eli Levinson-Falk
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Electrical and Computer Engineering at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Expertise: intro to quantum computing, qubits, quantum hardware and quantum mechanics
Contact: elevenso@usc.edu
“In simple terms, the algorithms used in quantum computing are different than traditional computers due to optimizing specialized computational methods that can leverage the unique properties of quantum mechanics to solve complex problems classical computers can’t,” says Eli Levinson-Falk.
“Quantum algorithms utilize quantum bits (qubits), which are the fundamental units of information in quantum computing. An everyday computer has bits that can only be 0 or 1, while a qubit can exist in multiple states simultaneously; this unique condition can lead to exponentially more computational power.”
Real-world quantum application: computational biology
Rosa Di Felice
Professor of Physics, Astronomy, and Quantitative and Computational Biology at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Expertise: speculative quantum applications in computational biology
Contact: difelice@usc.edu
“As of now, the technology of quantum computing has too many errors to have everyday practical applications in the field of computational biology,” says Rosa Di Felice.
“I identify areas where quantum computing can potentially transform computational biology. For example, the quantification of energy properties in the chemical reactions in biomolecules and cells is currently almost impossible. The problem is intrinsically a quantum mechanical problem that would naturally benefit from the use of error-corrected quantum algorithms. Errors critically undermine the performance of quantum information storage and processing in relation to computational biology.”
Further application: Dark matter
Quntao Zhuang
Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics and Astronomy at USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Expertise: quantum sensing
Contact: willkwon@usc.edu
“Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in the known universe. To understand the exact nature of it will require further research that may be supported by the development of a more powerful quantum processor, potentially solving quantum receiver design problems in quantum sensing,” says Quntao Zhuang.
“My research is focused on axion dark matter, which refers to the theoretical concept that a hypothetical particle called an ‘axion’ could be the primary constituent of dark matter in the universe.”
Outlooks on quantum computing
Federico Spedalieri
Research Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Managing Director of the Quantum Initiative at USC Viterbi’s Information Sciences Institute
Expertise: quantum annealing
Contact: willkwon@usc.edu
“The quantum computers we have today are still hampered by their extreme sensitivity to errors and the unavoidable noise present in any physical system. For the whole field of quantum computing to advance, we need to be able to manage this hindrance,” says Federico Spedalieri.
“Google’s Willow processor has shown that we can indeed engineer the building blocks that would allow us to tame this noise and unleash the revolutionary computational power that quantum computers can bring.”
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