Russian Company Presents 16-Qubit Quantum Computer to Vladimir Putin
Today at the Forum for Future Technologies in Russia, President Vladimir Putin was shown through the country’s current state in quantum computing — and it might be more developed than many would initially believe. Rosatom, the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation that’s the main governmental body responsible for coordinating national efforts relating to technological innovation, showcased what it says is a 16-qubit trapped-ion-based quantum computer. And according to Rosatom’s own press release on the matter, they’ve already run useful, molecule-simulating computations on it. The Russian processor is said to use the same quantum annealing technology that’s been shown to be impressively useful for military applications.
There’s quite a bit to digest here, assuming we don’t have another “quantum, but not really” situation on our hands – one that mirrors Iran’s recent attempt to shine a light on its quantum computing capabilities that, amusingly, backfired. (Perhaps someone in Iran should have read our “What is Quantum Computing” article.)
Developed by Russia’s Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI) and the Russian Quantum Center, the quantum computer seems to make use of trapped ion qubits with integrated photonics – an approach leveraged by marquee quantum computing companies such as Quantinuum (the child fathered by the merger of Honeywell and Cambridge Quantum) and IonQ to achieve higher qubit count scalability while also reducing the impact of noise. In quantum computing, noise refers to changes in the qubits’ environment (such as vibrations, electromagnetic interference, temperature, and others) that destroy qubits’ processing capabilities by collapsing the qubits’ entanglement and state (and as such, the information they were processing as well).
Rosatom’s push for Russia’s quantum advances started at least from November 7th, 2019, when it launched Russia’s program for the development of quantum computing and algorithmic solutions. Just one year later, Russia announced an investment of around $790 million in the country’s quantum computing capabilities, covering quantum research funding for the next five years. More recently, as early as February 2022, ROSATOM announced the creation of the National Quantum Laboratory (NQL), which aims to consolidate national quantum knowledge within one roof, with teams hailing from a number of state and private entities across Russia (and some contributions from foreign specialists as well). (Read more from “Russian Company Presents 16-Qubit Quantum Computer to Vladimir Putin” HERE)
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