Quantum computations are complex mathematical equations that deal with quantum states such as entanglement and superposition. Traditional computers are unable to perform quantum computations because they are unable to harness the phenomenon of quantum mechanics. Thus, special computers called ‘quantum computers’ are made to perform quantum computing.
Having said that, Intel has recently announced to have cleared through a bottleneck in quantum computing and it has made a significant step further in its practicality. According to a report by Engadget, the company mentions that in partnership with QuTech, they have successfully developed a cryogenic control processor called “Horse Ridge” through which they have, for the first time demonstrated an instance of a high-fidelity two-qubit control.
Quantum computers are not so easy to handle or feasible for general use like traditional computers and having cleared a bottleneck is a significant advancement. Quantum computers generally create a roadblock in wiring when using traditional room-temperature electronics to function a refrigerated quantum chip, says Intel.
QuTech and Intel demonstrated that they could achieve the same fidelity of 99.97% as those with traditional room-temperature electronics using its Horse Ridge cryogenic control processor.
As mentioned by Engadget, Horse Ridge contains the ability to control multiple qubits on a single radio frequency line as demonstrated by both Intel and QuTech. This is also known as frequency multiplexing and Horse Ridge reportedly uses the Deutsch-Jonza algorithm to reach the much efficient state of quantum computers using Horse Ridge processors than any other conventional computer system.
For the technology enthusiasts, Intel said that using Horse Ridge, a cryogenically tolerant Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor control chip that operates at just 3 kelvins was abled by the researchers to force microwave bursts to drive the multiple silicon qubits or quantum bits that were cooled to nearly absolute zero at 20 millikelvins.
Intel further reports that Horse Ridge was designed for multiplexing but until the company’s latest research, multiplexing was stuck in theory and was not proven possible. This is a major breakthrough!
The scalability of quantum computers have always been a challenge for scientists but now with the invention of Horse Ridge, Intel says that it will clear that wiring bottleneck from quantum computers and relive the systems towards major scalability in quantum computing.
The main aim for Intel is to control thousands and millions of qubits but in February 2020 it announced that Horse Ridge was able to control over 128 quits which is definitely a good sign for the scalability of quantum computers.
