Amazon Web Services (AWS) has unveiled Ocelot, its first quantum computing chip. It is worth noting that two of its major cloud competitors, Microsoft and Google, have already unveiled their own quantum chips (Majorana and Willow, respectively).
AWS has been investing in quantum computing for some time. In 2019, it launched Braket quantum computing-as-a-service in partnership with industry players such as QuEra and Rigetti.
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Quantum computing is based on principles of quantum mechanics, utilizing “quantum bits” (qubits) to perform complex calculations faster than traditional computers.
Creating quantum computing chips that can operate with reduced errorsis important for the advancement of quantum computing overall.
AWS's Ocelot quantum computing chip, developed in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), incorporates two small silicon microchips stacked on top of each other. According to the company, its design could reduce the costs associated with error correction by up to 90%.
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“With recent advances in quantum research, it is no longer a question of if, but when , practical, fault-tolerant quantum computers for real-world applications will be available ,” said Oskar Painter, director of quantum hardware at AWS . “ In the future, quantum chips built using 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. Specifically, we believe this will accelerate our timeline for a practical quantum computer by up to five years .”
One of the biggest challenges with quantum computers is that they are incredibly sensitive to small changes in their environment. Vibration, heat, electromagnetic interference from cell phones and Wi-Fi, or even radiation from space, can all throw qubits out of their quantum state, according to Amazon. This causes errors in the quantum computation being performed. For this reason, quantum computers rely on quantum error correction, which uses special encodings of quantum information across multiple qubits, in the form of “logical” qubits (intended to protect the quantum information from the environment). This also allows errors to be detected and corrected as they occur. Unfortunately, given the sheer number of qubits, current approaches come at a huge cost.
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To address current problems, researchers at AWS developed the Ocelot quantum computing chip, which was designed from the ground up with error correction “built in.”
Source: www.aboutamazon.com
