(Forbes) Intel calls the transition of quantum technology from the lab to the marketplace will be crucial to the successful application of quantum computing to practical problems, according to Intel.
“Back in 2018, we were saying we thought [quantum practicality] was going to happen in 10 to 12 years,” says Jim Clarke, director of the Quantum Hardware Research group at Intel. Regardless of recent breakthroughs by Intel and others, the expectation of getting to quantum practicality by the end of this decade hasn’t changed. “Controlling qubits is actually very difficult,” says Clarke, “and one approach is to use racks and racks of electronics.” Instead, Intel has developed a customized control chip that sits inside the refrigerators where quantum computing occurs.
“Horse Ridge” is what Intel calls its cryogenic control chip (named after one of the coldest places in Oregon) and its placement inside the refrigerator reduces significantly the amount of wiring required.
Another recent breakthrough demonstrated that the radical cooling required by quantum systems may turn out to be a tad warmer. A paper published in April in Nature, which Clarke co-authored with researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, reported on a two-qubit operation at 1.1 Kelvin or 15 times hotter than competing technologies.
Intel Advances On The Road To Quantum Practicality
