Google?s Bristlecone Processor and Quantum Computing. Since the 1960?s, the power of our brain machines has kept growing exponentially allowing computers to get smaller and more powerful at the same time. Computer parts are approaching the size of an atom. Hence every tech company has their eyes on the quantum computing which is the next milestone in computing world. Market Tech giants like Google, Intel, Microsoft, and HP are in a race to claim the title of quantum supremacy. Google at this point believes that their new Bristlecone processor is the first of its kind to reach that quantum supremacy level in the near future.
Bristlecone Processor and Quantum Mechanics
Quantum computers might be faster than our traditional computers but there is one thing they have to deal with. Yes, you are right, error rates are common to occur at this level of computing. Quantum computers do not like the noise we make and they typically work at low temperatures. According to experts, low temperature provides a favorable environment for a quantum computer to work.
In quantum computing, there are qubits which are the quantum version of the bits in traditional computers. Qubits lack the ability to remain in their original state for more than 100 microseconds. The system introduced by Google shows an error rate of 1% in which there is 0.1% for a single qubit.
Google?s Bristlecone Processor is made up of 72 qubits while it only takes only 46 qubits to reach the level of supremacy. No matter, the Google?s chip has more juice but qubits are not enough to achieve quantum computing level. As Google believes that in order to achieve supremacy it is important that software and hardware must be combined with latest and safe engineering practices.
The announcement of Google?s latest Bristlecone processor might let other tech companies like Microsoft and IBM start working on their computers as well. Microsoft hasn?t produced a single qubit yet but we know they are working on it. However, Microsoft is busy with developing the programming language for such purpose. IBM, on the other hand, has already reached 50-qubit supremacy on which they are still working in the lab.