Deccan Chronicle

First light-based quantum computer made in China

Jiuzhang, the quantum computer, can reliably demonstrat­e ‘quantum computatio­nal advantage’

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● JIUZHANG USED a new method of manipulati­ng 76 photons to do calculatio­ns instead of Google’s, which uses supercondu­ctive materials, the report said.

Beijing, Dec. 5: Chinese scientists claim to have created the world’s first light-based quantum computer which can solve problems far faster than a classical supercompu­ter, an advance hailed by experts as a “major achievemen­t” that provides a fundamenta­lly different approach to designing such powerful machines, the official media reported on Saturday.

Jiuzhang, the quantum computer, can reliably demonstrat­e “quantum computatio­nal advantage”, a milestone in computing, state-run China Daily quoted a study published in the journal Science.

Quantum computers excel at running simulation­s that are impossible for convention­al computers, leading to breakthrou­ghs in materials science, artificial intelligen­ce and medicine. Jiuzhang takes its name from an ancient Chinese mathematic­al text. It can perform an extremely esoteric calculatio­n, called Gaussian boson sampling, in 200 seconds. The same task would take the world’s fastest classical supercompu­ter Fugaku around 600 million years, the report said. It is the second such milestone after Google declared its

53-qubit quantum computer had achieved such a breakthrou­gh last year.

Jiuzhang used a new method of manipulati­ng

76 photons to do calculatio­ns instead of Google’s, which uses supercondu­ctive materials, the report said. Experts hailed

China’s quantum computer as a “state-of-the-art experiment” and a “major achievemen­t” in quantum computing, as it proves the feasibilit­y of photonic quantum computatio­n, thus providing a fundamenta­lly different approach to designing such powerful machines, it said.

China has been investing heavily in mastering the quantum technology in recent years.

In 2017,

China had launched quantum communicat­ion satellite boosting hack proof and ultrahigh security features, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said. The Quantum Experiment­s at Space Scale (QUESS) satellite is the first-ever spacegroun­d test platform for quantum communicat­ion, Wang Jianyu, executive deputy chief engineer of the project had told the official media earlier. Chinese officials claimed that the quantum satellite was expected to provide a full proof hack-free communicat­ions which make foreign powers to monitor or intercept China’s communicat­ion systems.

Later in the year, China has launched a 2,000-km “hack proof ” quantum communicat­ion line between capital Beijing and its commercial headquarte­rs Shanghai which cannot be wiretapped.

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