- By now, I hope you're as excited and intrigued as I am
about the possibility of quantum computers.
After all, they promise to usher in a new age of computing
and to enable completely new ways
for technology to serve humanity.
The potential is so alluring.
We want this capability now.
Quantum computing is still an emerging technology.
What major breakthroughs are required
for it to enter the mainstream?
- Taking the whole topological area as a whole,
the main breakthrough that we're going after right now
is getting even just the first
functioning topological qubit.
So it's really the most basic building block
of the whole system, of the whole approach.
The hope is that once we just get
that first building block going
or the first couple building blocks going,
things will just snowball and take off from there
in a way that is a lot easier than these other systems
like superconducting qubits or whatnot.
- [Man In Black Jacket] The technology for creating a qubit
ranges from superconducting magnetism
to microwaves and to lasers.
Each has strengths and are being extensively tested.
It's not yet clear which approach
will achieve the best results.
- Quantum states, because of their complexity,
which is why we like them so much
for information processing,
also means that the types of errors you can have
are also more complex and more in variety.
As a result, to correct those errors,
there's so much overhead involved in correcting errors
that the error rate to begin with is extremely small,
much smaller than for classical communication
or a classical computer.
That error rate is extremely small to begin with.
The whole thing is going to just actually spin out of control,
and as you try to correct errors, you'll make more errors,
and actually error rate will just increase,
and you'll never get anything done.
On the other hand, if the starting error rate is good,
good enough, then you actually revert your cycle
which is the more error connection you do,
the lower the error rate's going to get.
Unfortunately, that also means that
you're spending most of your computing time
just playing whack-a-mole.
You're just trying to correct errors,
and all you're doing is error connection,
barely any actual useful computation.
So you really need the error rate to get down
and having what you might call
higher quality, more stable, higher fidelity qubits
is really the big breakthrough
that the whole field is trying to push towards.
There has been some focus on getting more qubits,
but more qubits is only going to get you so far
until you make them higher quality.
- While classical computers have excellent fault tolerance,
that is the ability to continue
to operate effectively despite errors,
quantum fault tolerance is still an emerging area.
Quantum computers will need a lot more
than just the ability to create and leverage qubits.
They'll need new software and interfaces
and a whole range of yet-to-be-invented technologies
to integrate them into our existing
ecosystems of technology.
You can't just run classical computing software
that works with binary bits on a system that uses qubits.
In other words, PC-based Microsoft Windows
can't be installed on a quantum computer.
Quantum computers need their own algorithms,
operating systems, and programming platforms.
Classical computing software evolved over decades
and was represented by generations of software.
The first generation was programming
at the machine code level with ones and zeroes,
and several generations later,
it had become easier through abstraction.
That is, you can now build software
by simply dragging and dropping visual icons.
We'll need to see these tools developed,
and they are being developed for qubit-powered computers.
So it becomes clear that quantum computers exist
and are getting results,
but there are major technological gaps to fill.
However, innovation is moving quickly.
While we are addressing the hardware and software needs,
we also need to see more participants
in the quantum computing marketplace.
This will happen when it becomes more evident
what the timeline is for broader adoption.
We'll also need a lot more talent to cross the board
from analysts to developers to engineers and implementers
to strategy advisors to documentation writers and more.
Greater investment in startups
and more university participation will be required too.
In general, we're trending in a positive direction
in all these areas.
The future of quantum computing looks very promising indeed.