Quantum Computing: MSFT Versus Tokyo U
October 4, 2017
Quantum computing is not quite as thrilling to marketers as smart software. I noted two articles, each reporting advances in quantum computing. The first is from the folks who brought us the Windows Nokia phone. In “With New Microsoft Breakthroughs, General Purpose Quantum Computing Moves Closer to Reality,” I learned:
[Microsoft] showcased the progress it has made toward developing both a topological qubit and the ecosystem of hardware and software that will eventually allow a wide range of developers to take advantage of quantum computing’s power. That progress includes a new programming language, which is deeply integrated with Visual Studio and designed to work on both a quantum simulator and a quantum computer.
The method involves a topological method which I think means qubits are organized in a lattice. The idea is to make qubits more stable. Decoherence does not compute.
In Japan, Tokyo University professors asserted that a combination of light pulses and loop circuits would allow task switching and manipulation of the pulses. The article “University of Tokyo Pair Invent Loop-based Quantum Computing Technique” states:
Furusawa’s new approach will allow a single circuit to process more than 1 million qubits theoretically, his team said in a press release, calling it an “ultimate” quantum computing method.
Has Microsoft solved the problem? Has the Tokyo U pair prevailed? I want to wait for more tech rah rah from the Google and the myriad of other research teams trying to find a better way than Von Neumann’s.
Stephen E Arnold, October 4, 2017
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