To make quantum computers genuinely helpful to enterprises, the quantum computing sector must produce massive gains in performance, addressing challenges ranging from finance to materials research. Thus, Q-CTRL has designed advanced new tools for quantum algorithm enhancement and was able to experimentally confirm a breaking record of up to 9,000X performance improvements over quantum algorithms run with the greatest compilers available. This achievement has surpassed its own performance-enhancement record of 25X.
The main roadblock to quantum computing growth is hardware errors, this has always been the main reason why quantum computers aren’t able to use up their maximum advantage. Solving problems through quantum computers has shown great efficiency.
By focusing on quantum computers’ Achilles Heel, hardware error, the Q-CTRL team was able to discover whole new approaches to achieve this goal, substantially lowering mistakes not just in individual quantum logic units, but also through the entire algorithms.
Since last November, when Q-CTRL has announced the power of quantum control in decreasing quantum computer faults, they were able to take a step further and increased the difficulty of the assignment. The demonstrated algorithmic improvements of more than 1,000X have reduced the performance gap between the promise of upcoming quantum computers and the actual performance they bring to the end-users.
The team has been able to put together a brand-new set of tools for algorithmic refinement on genuine quantum computers, specifically designed to scale to massive system sizes. It expands on the capabilities of Boulder Opal, Q-CTRL’s flagship technical product, and offers numerous important new advancements that redefine performance standards in the industry.
Our team were impressed how Fire Opal has opened totally new frontiers in our research and is bringing quantum advantage closer, enabling results better than classically possible for one of the cornerstone quantum algorithms. In some cases this software fundamentally transformed hardware, allowing results deemed impossible by previous benchmarks.
Paulina Mazurek, CEO of BEIT.
Before running quantum algorithms on real quantum computers, we run them through this toolchain. As a result, when the algorithms are run using our infrastructure software, they are far more likely to succeed than any other method now available.
One of our software partners, Zapata Computing, has integrated a Fire Opal prototype into their Orquestra® platform. Zapata’s RAE enhanced has an estimated precision of 5.5, whereas the Fire Opal appeared to minimize the error by an estimated factor of 11. Making this a huge milestone for both companies.
I just saw a demo and the team delivered unrealistically-impressive results. I provided circuits that produce hot garbage on NISQ devices—sheer noise—and they showed me useful results. This means that with algorithms for which I normally need quantum computing simulators to show proofs-of-principle, I can now use Fire Opal results to show qubits actually working as intended…Fire Opal seems like a prudent investment for quantum computing startups, especially those on the software and algorithms side.
Brian Siegelwax, Quantum Zeitgeist writer and Quantum Algorithm Designer
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