IBM unveiled its first modular quantum computer powered by 133 qubit Heron quantum processor
Date: 12/12/2023
Quantum computing engineers at IBM focusing now one improving the reliability of qubits along with increasing the number of qubits. Qubits which are basic quantum states are prone to errors in maintaining the defined state. It is more important to develop a quantum processor with reliable low error qubits rather the number of qubits. In this direction IBM has announced a new quantum chip called Heron with 133 qubits with very lowest error rate. Heron is a utility-scale quantum processor. In Heron, IBM used a technique called quantum low-density parity check (qLDPC) to take care of error correction. IBM also did some architectural changes featuring better modularity and scale.
IBM Quantum Heron is a 3-5x improvement in device performance over our previous flagship 127-qubit Eagle processors, and virtually eliminates cross-talk.
IBM also announced its first model lot quantum computer called IBM Quantum System Two. IBM Quantum System Two, located in Yorktown Heights, New York, has begun operations with three IBM Heron processors and supporting control electronics. IBM said Heron is the first in IBM's new class of performant processors with significantly improved error rates, offering a five-times improvement over the previous best records set by IBM Eagle.
IBM also announced its Quantum Development Roadmap to 2033, where it has added new targets to significantly advance the quality of gate operations which increase the size of quantum circuits enabling realisation of full potential quantum computing at scale. In its roadmap IBM shared IBM's future generations of quantum processors.
you can get more details on the roadmap at: https://research.ibm.com/blog/quantum-roadmap-2033
"We are firmly within the era in which quantum computers are being used as a tool to explore new frontiers of science," said Dario Gil, IBM SVP and Director of Research. "As we continue to advance how quantum systems can scale and deliver value through modular architectures, we will further increase the quality of a utility-scale quantum technology stack – and put it into the hands of our users and partners who will push the boundaries of more complex problems."
IBM users can access via cloud the experiments it is running on the new IBM Quantum Heron 133-qubit processor.
IBM said its Quantum System Two is the foundation of IBM's next generation quantum computing system architecture. It combines scalable cryogenic infrastructure and classical runtime servers with modular qubit control electronics. The new system is a building block for IBM's vision of quantum-centric supercomputing. This architecture combines quantum communication and computation, assisted by classical computing resources, and leverages a middleware layer to appropriately integrate quantum and classical workflows, said IBM.
IBM provided details of its plans for a new generation of its software stack, within which Qiskit 1.0 will be a pivot point defined by stability and speed. IBM is working on the goal of democratizing quantum computing development, to support that IBM announced Qiskit Patterns. Qiskit is an open-source software development toolkit for quantum computing. Qiskit 1.0, first stable release of Qiskit, the most popular quantum computing SDK expected to be available in February 2024. Qiskit Patterns is a programming template outlining the structure of quantum programs and a logical framework for building quantum algorithms and applications at scale, explains IBM.
Here are the further details IBM shared on Qiskit and generative AI:
Qiskit Patterns will serve as a mechanism to allow quantum developers to more easily create code. It is based in a collection of tools to simply map classical problems, optimize them to quantum circuits using Qiskit, executing those circuits using Qiskit Runtime, and then postprocess the results. With Qiskit Patterns, combined with Quantum Serverless, users will be able to build, deploy, and execute workflows integrating classical and quantum computation in different environments, such as cloud or on-prem scenarios. All of these tools will provide building blocks for users to build and run quantum algorithms more easily.
Additionally, IBM is pioneering the use of generative AI for quantum code programming through watsonx
IBM's enterprise AI platform. IBM will integrate generative AI available through watsonx to help automate the development of quantum code for Qiskit. This will be achieved through the finetuning of the IBM Granite model series
"Generative AI and quantum computing are both reaching an inflection point, presenting us with the opportunity to use the trusted foundation model framework of watsonx to simplify how quantum algorithms can be built for utility-scale exploration," said Jay Gambetta, Vice President and IBM Fellow at IBM. "This is a significant step towards broadening how quantum computing can be accessed and put in the hands of users as an instrument for scientific exploration."
With advanced hardware across IBM's global fleet of 100+ qubit systems, as well as easy-to-use software that IBM is debuting in Qiskit, users and computational scientists can now obtain reliable results from quantum systems as they map increasingly larger and more complex problems to quantum circuits.
All of this was announced at annual IBM Quantum Summit held in New York on 4th of December 2023.
News Source: IBM
