D-Wave Quantum Inc., a leading quantum computing company, has developed a 1,200+ qubit Advantage2 prototype. This new prototype, which will be available on D-Wave’s Leap real-time quantum cloud service, is built with a lower-noise, multilayer superconducting integrated-circuit fabrication stack. It shows significant performance improvements on hard optimization problems and is expected to be powerful for machine learning. The Advantage2 prototype has double the number of qubits and couplers of the previous model and is 20 times faster at solving certain optimization problems. Mark W. Johnson, senior vice president of quantum technologies at D-Wave, expressed confidence in the new prototype’s capabilities.
D-Wave Quantum Inc. Unveils 1,200+ Qubit Advantage Prototype
D-Wave Quantum Inc., a quantum computing systems, software, and services provider, has announced the calibration of a 1,200+ qubit Advantage2 prototype. This new prototype will soon be available in the company’s Leap real-time quantum cloud service. The Advantage2 prototype was developed with a new lower-noise, multilayer superconducting integrated-circuit fabrication stack, which has shown significant performance gains on hard optimization problems. It is expected to be particularly powerful for new use cases such as machine learning.
Enhanced Features and Performance of the Advantage2 Prototype
The Advantage2 prototype features 1,200+ qubits and 10,000+ couplers, double the number of qubits and couplers over the previously released Advantage2 prototype. Benchmarks demonstrate substantial advancements across several performance metrics compared to the Advantage quantum processing unit (QPU). These include increased qubit connectivity from 15 to 20-way connectivity, an energy scale increase of more than 40% to deliver higher-quality solutions, and a doubled qubit coherence time, which will drive faster time-to-solution.
Advantage2 Prototype’s Efficiency in Solving Optimization Problems
The new Advantage2 prototype is 20 times faster at solving spin glasses, a class of classically hard optimization problems. Recent research has shown that compared to the Advantage system, the Advantage2 prototype grows quantum correlations twice as fast in materials simulation and shows significantly reduced errors in quantum simulation tasks. It also shows improved performance on constraint satisfaction problems, with the Advantage2 prototype beating the Advantage system 90% of the time.
Mark W. Johnson’s Statement on the Advantage2 Prototype
Mark W. Johnson, senior vice president of quantum technologies and systems products at D-Wave, stated that the new Advantage2 prototype represents a significant improvement in performance. With the new lower-noise fabrication stack, the prototype has shown significant gains in coherence, connectivity, and energy scale, which will translate to higher-quality and faster solutions. Johnson expressed confidence that the full Advantage2 system will be the most performant system yet and unlock substantial computational power and problem-solving capabilities for their customers.
Quantum Error Mitigation in the Advantage2 Prototype
In November 2023, D-Wave announced research results that demonstrate successful Quantum Error Mitigation (QEM) in the Advantage2 prototype. The techniques reduce errors in quantum simulations, producing results consistent with the quantum system maintaining its quantum state (“coherence”) for an order of magnitude longer time than an unmitigated system. These techniques are expected to drive performance advancements in the forthcoming Advantage2 system and future processors.
The Full Advantage2 System: D-Wave’s Sixth-Generation Quantum System
The full Advantage2 system will mark the company’s sixth-generation quantum system. It is expected to feature 7,000 qubits with a new qubit design, enabling 20-way connectivity between qubits in a new topology. This system is expected to further enhance the computational power and problem-solving capabilities offered by D-Wave to its customers.
