AWS debuts Ocelot chip to slash quantum error correction
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The news: Amazon Web Services (AWS) unveiled Ocelot, a quantum computing chip that it says is a step towards building practical quantum computers at scale.
The context: The small-scale prototype is designed to test AWS’s quantum error correction architecture and could reduce the number of additional qubits needed for error correction by up to 90%, and therefore reduce costs.
Unlike conventional approaches that require about a million physical qubits, AWS claims its technology could enable useful quantum computers with as few as 100,000. Ocelot uses "cat" qubits, which AWS says have inherent protection against bit-flip errors.
Ocelot's high-quality oscillators are made from a thin film of superconducting tantalum, which AWS scientists have specifically processed to boost performance.
The chip was developed at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing in Pasadena, California, and its announcement coincided with the publication of a peer-reviewed paper in Nature.
It comes as Google, Microsoft and PsiQuantum also advance their quantum computing efforts.
What they said: AWS director of Quantum Hardware Oskar Painter said its hardware-efficient approach to error correction positions the company to scale quantum computing more quickly and cost-effectively.
“In the future, quantum chips built according to the Ocelot architecture could cost as little as one-fifth of current approaches, due to the drastically reduced number of resources required for error correction,” Painter said.
“Concretely, we believe this will accelerate our timeline to a practical quantum computer by up to five years.”
"We believe that if we're going to make practical quantum computers, quantum error correction needs to come first.” Painter added his team estimates that scaling Ocelot to a “fully-fledged quantum computer capable of transformative societal impact would require as little as one-tenth of the resources associated with standard quantum error correcting approaches.”
The source: Amazon Web Services
