Rigetti Computing in partnership with USRA will develop quantum computers capable of solving complicated optimization problems for the DARPA phase two, through the use of its hardware, and software. The collaboration will be benchmarking against high-performance classical computers. The work focuses on solving complex scheduling problems with high implications for national security. The team will continue to develop and test the scheduling application at an increasing scale, including with Rigetti’s 80-qubit modular quantum processor
The company’s selection is based on its successful completion of performance milestones, underpinned by Rigetti’s continued development of its scalable chip technology and advanced programming tools, in collaboration with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and through DARPA, under DARPA-NASA Interagency Agreement (IAA) 8839 Annex 114, with the NASA Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL).
Working with our partners at NASA and USRA to deliver on ONISQ (Optimization with Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) phase one has advanced our capabilities in hardware, software, and applications, demonstrating the benefits of both our partnering strategy and our vertically integrated approach to developing quantum computers,
Using an operationally relevant customer problem as a guidepost has led to significant full-stack innovation, including in chip technologies, advanced gate calibration, and quantum programming features that we’re now able to deliver more broadly to users through our Quantum Cloud Services platform.”
CHAD RIGETTI, ceo and founder of Rigetti
The program, which took advantage of Rigetti’s Fab-1, the industry’s first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility, was aided by the company’s ongoing development of key chip technologies that underpin its innovative modular quantum processor architecture, which it announced last year.
Furthermore, the program’s work has resulted in the presentation of enhanced programming tools and compiler technology, such as more expressive logic gates on Rigetti’s 32-qubit quantum processors. The industry’s first implementation of a programmable 3-qubit gate, which maps directly to classically hard sampling issues and could allow quantum computers to beat conventional computers on these jobs, is one of them.
This project is funded by DARPA’s ONISQ program. The program’s purpose is to show that quantum information processing employing NISQ devices offers a quantitative advantage over the best currently known conventional approaches for solving real-world combinatorial optimization problems.
Read more about the press release here.