Microsoft and Quantinuum Making Bold Claims for Reliable Level 2

They say it's the "Most Reliable Logical Qubits Ever Recorded"

Hey Everyone,

I’m excited, as far as you can be with the weekly announcements of “breakthroughs” in this space. Let’s try and tease out the most recent PR by Microsoft here.

Microsoft is claiming it knows how to slash error rates in quantum computers. Quantum error correct has been a major bottleneck for how Quantum computers have evolved. Working with Quantinuum, they announced a technical breakthrough on Wednesday (3 April) that promises to make quantum computing more reliable.

Beyond NISQ

• The Microsoft-led partnership say the move is a crucial step towards making quantum computers a commercial reality.

• For quantum computers to go from research curiosities to practically useful devices, researchers need to get their errors under control.

• Using hardware created by Quantinuum, Microsoft said its latest research upgrades us to a new level beyond what is known as ‘noisy’ intermediate-scale quantum era.

It’s rare for Quantum to get much mainstream attention, but when Microsoft blows a whistle, heads turn.

This might signal a period where BigTech get more interested in the potential of Quantum, even as funding for Quantum startups is now flowing particularly well in a changing period for startup funding generally, and perhaps a new normal for a while.

By applying an innovative qubit-virtualization system to ion-trap hardware, Microsoft and Quantinuum were able to create four highly reliable logical qubits from only 30 physical qubits, while demonstrating an 800x improvement in error rate.

Improving the logical error rate by 800x

Is the era of “AQ” Upon us in 2024?

Microsoft claims a hybrid supercomputer that combines both classical and quantum capabilities has the potential to solve formerly intractable problems and address the most pressing global issues. When powered by 100 reliable logical qubits, a hybrid machine could potentially solve scientific problems that are unsolvable on classical machines.

Don’t forget to actually read the technical paper.