In all likelihood, IBM is about to officially announce the launch of ‘Flamingo’ and ‘Crossbill’, its next platforms for quantum computing. In fact, if you maintain your strategy from previous years, these launches should arrive before the end of 2024. For this reason, we are at the ideal time to review what this company’s plans are in the short and medium term with the purpose of determining, among other things, when the long-awaited error correction will arrive for quantum computers.
Until now, the most optimistic forecasts invited us to contemplate the possibility that quantum computers equipped with the ability to correct their own errors will arrive during the next decade. These machines will presumably be much more useful than the prototypes currently available because they will solve a much wider range of problems, which is why we usually refer to them as ‘fully functional quantum computers’.
Bug mitigation is here, with the fix coming in 2029
The main problem that quantum computers face in the field of error correction is noise, understood as disturbances that can alter the internal state of the qubits and introduce calculation errors. The strategy that many of the research groups involved in the development of quantum computers are opting for consists of monitoring the operations carried out by the qubits to identify errors in real time and correct them. The problem is that from a practical point of view this strategy is very challenging.
IBM plans to have the Heron (5K) platform equipped with error mitigation ready before the end of this year
However, there is an alternative path. It is known as ‘error mitigation’, and, very broadly, instead of monitoring in real time what happens in the qubits, it allows them to carry out their calculations even if they have errors and only at the end of the process. it is inferred which is the correct result. This technique is already delivering very promising results. In fact, as we can see in the itinerary contained in the following image, IBM plans to have the Heron (5K) platform equipped with error mitigation ready before the end of this year.
Surprisingly, IBM’s itinerary holds several more surprises for us. In 2025 it will launch ‘Flamingo’, a 156-qubit quantum processor equipped with the ability to mitigate, although not correct, its own errors. This mitigation capacity is based on the improvement of the quality of the superconducting qubits, an optimization that in turn is possible thanks to the innovations introduced in the logic gates and the improvement of the qubit manufacturing process. In fact, IBM will continue to refine and scale the ‘Flamingo’ quantum processor until 2028.
However, the real surprise awaits us in 2029. If IBM meets its schedule within five years, it will have ‘Starling’ ready, its first quantum hardware equipped with the ability to correct its own errors. In this case the roadmap clearly indicates that we are talking about correction, and not mitigation. They are big words. As I mentioned a few lines above, this hardware should allow the researchers who will work with it to face problems that they are currently dealing with. current prototypes cannot cope. And finally, in 2033 ‘Blue Jay’ will kick off the massive scaling of IBM’s quantum hardware with error correction capabilities. It sounds very good. Let’s cross our fingers.
Images | IBM
More information | The Quantum Insider
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