Hoping to revolutionize future computing, scientists have drawn up plans for a large-scale quantum computer.
An international team, led by scientists from the University of Sussex designed a blueprint for a modular quantum computer. Accordingly, the computer has the potential to end up becoming more powerful than any other system available today, Popular Mechanics reported.
Quantum computers have always been viewed as the next evolution in computing technology, which means it can also be millions of times faster than contemporary machines. If the blueprints are deemed viable, the next decade could produce the first super-fast quantum machine. The team has published the new blueprint in the academic Journal Science Advances.
The blueprint comprised the combined efforts of a team of international scientists from the University of Sussex (UK), Google (UA), Aarhus University (Denmark), RIKEN (Japan), and Siegen University (Germany).
Prof. Winfred Hensinger, head of Ion Quantum Technology Group of the University of Sussex revealed that for many years, people believed it was an impossibility to construct an actual quantum computer. However, with the blueprint now in hand, not only can they put the theory to practice, but also now they can build an actual large-scale machine, according to Phys.Org.
The difficulty of designing and building of an actual machine has been a challenge for most have only a handful of qubits that are not enough to perform meaningful calculations. The new blueprint approached a unique method by making the machine into a modular design, which in theory will allow for as arbitrarily a large number of qubits.
The group tried various methods to simplify their quantum machine. Trapping ions to function as qubits, allow the system to run at room temperature. They employed the use of electric fields and microwaves to perform calculations, instead of the traditional and complex approach using lasers.
Accordingly, the scientists intend to build a prototype of the quantum computer using their new design to test and gauge its capabilities, the project would reportedly cost $1.25 million.
