What advancements can be made to quantum computers that will allow them to surpass traditional computers in performing difficult tasks like problem-solving? This is what a five-year, $5 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy hopes to address as a team of researchers from several universities will be tasked with developing an algorithm that can be used to improve the problem-solving skills of quantum computers. This study holds the potential to help advance the power, capabilities, and efficiency of quantum computers, which are still in its infancy regarding their performance and influence.
“We have moderately sized quantum processors that can do all sorts of things, but we’re still not at the stage where they can have an impact on an important problem, whether it be related to drug design or energy harvesting or something else,” said Dr. Ed Barnes, who is a professor of physics at Virginia Tech and the project’s principal investigator.
For the project, the team will be improving on existing algorithms, which have shown to be complicated and only built to conduct specific tasks. But the team aspires to make quantum computing algorithms adaptable to a variety of tasks as opposed to focusing on a universal task. The team will be focusing their new algorithm on materials physics, machine learning, and chemistry where they hope will be able to perform problem-solving tasks within these three disciplines.
“Existing quantum algorithms are designed to run on a universal quantum machine, but we think there will be a long-term middle ground where we use different quantum computers depending on the problems we are trying to solve,” said Dr. Barnes.
While still in its infancy, potential quantum computing applications include artificial intelligence, more efficient batteries, financial modeling, solar power, drug development, traffic optimization, and much more.
How will this research help improve quantum computers in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: EurekAlert!, Virginia Tech News, Built In