Germany bankrolls effort to build home-grown quantum systems
- Reference: 1646980267
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/11/germany_qsolid_quantum_computing/
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QSolid has been formed by a consortium of 25 German companies and research institutions, backed by funding from the country’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which has stumped up €76.3m ($84m) for the next five years.
The German research project will be coordinated by the Forschungszentrum Jülich, one of the largest interdisciplinary research centers in Europe, and aims to drive development of quantum systems by creating qubits of a high quality, aiming to deliver a demonstrator by mid-2024.
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Quantum systems are still in the early stages of development, and promise breakthroughs in a number of areas, such as materials science and drug development. And although developing a usable quantum computer comes with huge challenges, the QSolid scientists point out that it offers an opportunity to set industry standards and secure intellectual property rights from the outset.
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“Our focus is on improving the quality of the quantum bits, a goal we are pursuing on all levels in QSolid,” said Professor Frank Wilhelm-Mauch from Forschungszentrum Jülich, who is the QSolid project coordinator.
The QSolid members aim to develop a system containing various quantum processors based on superconducting circuits, which is the type of technology used by many other outfits developing quantum systems, such as IBM and Google. However, the current level of technology produces qubits that are of low quality, meaning that they have a high error rate, which is where QSolid is focusing its research.
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“The optimizations we have in mind start with next-generation superconducting circuits with a particularly low error rate, which we plan to achieve using high-precision manufacturing methods and new material systems,” said Prof Wilhelm-Mauch.
Other elements aimed at boosting quality include optimal control of the qubits as well as developing error avoidance methods based on artificial intelligence (AI) at the firmware level, in which QSolid aims to set new standards, he added.
The quantum system developed by QSolid will be located at Forschungszentrum Jülich, and it is planned to operate at least three different quantum processors in parallel. One of these is described as a “moonshot” system planned to have computing power that will exceed that of conventional supercomputers, while another will be an application-specific system designed to perform quantum calculations for industry, and the third will be a benchmarking platform aimed at the development of digital twins and industry standards.
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According to QSolid, the first prototypes of the planned demonstrators are being produced at the Leibniz-Institut für Photonische Technologien (Leibniz IHPT), and are expected to be operational by 2024. A production line for superconducting circuits is already in place there, and this will be converted into a pilot production line for superconducting quantum circuits as part of the project.
QSolid brings together research institutions, companies, and start-ups from across Germany, including Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), the Central Institute of Engineering, Electronics, Fraunhofer IPMS and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), plus ParityQC, Rosenberger HF-Technik, Atos science+computing AG and Globalfoundries.
[6]JPMorgan Chase readies for post-quantum security world
[7]D-Wave to go public after $1.2 billion merger deal with SPAC
[8]Silk could tie up all-but-unbreakable encryption, say South Korean boffins
[9]IBM forges entanglement to double quantum simulations by 'cutting up a larger circuit into smaller circuits'
However, the funding for QSolid is less than the £93 million over five years that UK Research and Innovation found for [10]quantum projects in 2020, and a mere fraction of the money made available for quantum research in the US.
The move follows other recent developments in the quantum arena, with PsiQuantum detailing plans for a [11]data centre-sized quantum computer built using silicon photonics, Saudi Aramco working with French startup Pasqal on [12]applications for the oil and gas industry , and HPE and Samsung investing in another quantum startup, [13]Classiq . ®
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/17/jpmorgan_postquantum/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/dwave_spac_public/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/28/silken_security/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/24/ibm_entanglement_forging/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/28/quantum_compute_team_named/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/08/psiquantum_data_center_quantum/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/09/saudi_aramco_pasqal_quantum/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/18/hpe_samsung_classiq/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Isn't quantum bullshit?
It both is and isn't bullshit that won't happen for another 500yrs. We won't know until its built and the superposition hand-wave function collapses by being looked at. Or something. Ponder that.
Re: Isn't quantum bullshit?
Quantum computing is like Fusion power, it sounds great, when it becomes commercially functional it will revolutionise how things operate on Earth, BUT it's fecking hard to make work.
From the Outside looking in, it always looks like a waste of cash with nothing happening. From the inside, it look s like things are progressing, just very very slowly. As you would expect for developing something thats not been done before.
As such, it's another technology that appears to always be 20 years away. See also Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, flying cars, regular Supersonic transport, space hotels, and so on and so forth...
Broken funding model
It’s an exciting technology, and likely could work in a decade.
But this funding model is crazy. €76m spread over *25 institutions* and five years, is €600k per institution per year. That’s basically five researchers per institution. And each institution will have its own ideas of “working on something interesting”, that don’t drive the whole project forward. Occasionally they will meet to argue, and then separate to go their own way again, and publish their own “interesting thing”. Utterly pointless. Notice how already one institution is going to “develop error avoidance methods based on artificial intelligence (AI) at the firmware level”. Really? This is just CV-padding. And it’s 1/25th of the total resources on the project, with a dozen more like it.
Compare that to starting a focused 100 researcher institute, with strong leadership and vision and funding it properly. Same price. But it probably would have produced solid results. No wonder China is eating Europe’s lunch in R&D on this sort of thing.
Re: Broken funding model
In Germany, working with multiple institutes on projects is not uncommon. When I was at DLR working on a Space Project, we had 8 different Institutes working on it, spread all across Germany. Each institute worked on different aspects - 1 was primary design, 1 was simulation, 1 was project management and co-ordination, others focused on specific subsystems, etc. Each focused on their area of expertise.
So as long as there is a central command structure, there really is no reason why 25 institutes couldnt work on this far more complex topic then I was involved in. Naturally, more money for the science would of course be better, but at least this is a start...
Isn't quantum bullshit?
I thought this was all just pretend. Are we now entering a time where it isn't - or is it still something that won't happen for another 500yrs?