Switch-Science has just announced a trio of quantum-computers that the company claims are the world’s first portable quantum-computers. The new quantum computing products were designed to promote education. The aim of the project is to make a more accessible connection to physical quantum computing solutions (PCs) that can be deployed (and redeployed at will). Even considering the actual quantum machinery on offer, none of these (we’re internally calling the «quantops») is likely to be a part of the future of quantum technology.
The new product, developed with education in mind, shows the qubit counts of the matter, which top out at three points (compare that with Google’s Sycamore or IBM’s 433-qubit Osprey Quantum Processing Unit (QPU), both of which are superconducting qubits). Moreover, it’s enough that this means that real problems of quantum computing could become real quickly, yet they can run quantum circuits – both the system of integrated learning, and the system of automated physics.
The new “quantops” – Gemini Mini, Gemini and Triangulum – have different facets and shapes. All of them have the full-integrated quantum computing system capable of running at room temperature. That capability is the matter of the qubits’ nature. SpinQ uses nuclear magnetic resonance, a technology first introduced in 1997. And that’s their main problem: NMR’s scaling capabilities are very limited; its quantum capabilities are relatively difficult. All NMR-related research from the past years has failed to show entanglement capabilities for these particular qubits. One of the biggest “quirks” of the quantum world’s extreme performance potential is responsible for certain particular projects.
The Gemini Mini is a set, a 500 x 350 x 260mm, 14 kg system, built into one ml of coherence for two or four years. According to the company, the Gemini Mini has power to perform more than 30 gates on one qubit and more than 10 on two quabits. It has an integrated screen and supports 18 Demo-Algorithms that include documentation and training materials. The Gemini is available for $1.118,000 yen (£8,104). The power consumption is 60 W (with the added power required for the integrated screen).
The Gemini sheds the “Mini” and the integrated screen, but its qubit counts can’t be increased. Since the system’s complexity increased, it does more complex gate operation. Through 1-qubit operation, up to 200 gates of depth will be able to operate and up to 20 gates in 2-qubit operations remain the same as the quoted “>20 ms” coherence times. As a complex offering, the product is included in six demo algorithms. This would seem to be aimed at advanced quantum computing users. There is also more “advanced” price, which’s at 5 o’clock in total, coming in at 41 510 yen 5.72 milliard. It comes with an antimicrobial material, and is able to be recycled by a 600 x 280 x 530 mm volume, and does not contain an integrated screen but can be supplied in a power consumption of up to 100 W, weighs more than 44 kg (portability, it seems, is relative).
Triangulum, the third product, is the most advanced – it’s bigger, bader, and more expensive ($57.400). For its 30 Kg chassis, 610 x 330 x 560 mm, Triangulum offers three NMR spin qubits with constant time and gt.40 ms (doubling the Gemini-skin capacity). The spin qubit is supposed to be the Triangulum for longer coherence times – allowing more work to be done before all works are lost. But in quantum, and especially in XMR devices, a different thing might happen if the depth of two and three chinese operation per circuit is decreased compared to the Gemini. Only 40 gates-depth operations for single and four quartz are achieved and 8 gate-depth for two or three quartz. This is probably a necessary evil, due to the extra constraint and the increased synchronisation times. Given NMR’s recognizably poor scaling capabilities, the added noise had to be compensated for. I do not want to help the system. Triangulum has a 330-W power consumption rating.
SpinQ’s computers won’t be the future of quantum. The technology they’re based on is very unlikely to be one of the “winning” designs that unlocks the door to post-NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) quantum computing. Being aware that, it’s interesting that the company has chosen to develop, manufacture and offer these systems, especially considering that many companies already have cloud-based quantum computer simulators. The power of these based quantum computations allows users to select different qubit types and offer considerably fewer possibilities. While all of this is a factor, this offering is unlikely to ruin the quantum computing world. But that is a new step for actual commercialization of quantum systems – that could accelerate the interest in the oh-so-juicy branch of computing.