Work is currently underway on many fronts to develop the quantum computer of the future—a computer that will be able to help with computational tasks that our current computers cannot, and which is therefore expected to revolutionize our world in many ways.
Although great progress has been made in developing both hardware and software for the quantum computer in recent years, challenges remain. It is both a question of being able to build a computer with enough qubits, and about finding solutions to avoid the noise currently wreaking havoc with results.
DTU and SDU are now partnering to try to take a different path to developing a quantum computer that is not challenged by such errors.
“Our vision and hope is to create a quantum computer based on an optical platform that is stable and thus generates fewer errors. We’re unlikely to achieve this in the lifetime of the project, but we will be able to prove that we can realistically work with the basic elements of such a quantum computer,” says Associate Professor Jonas Schou Neergaard-Nielsen, DTU, who is part of the project.
Unique collaboration
The collaboration between DTU and SDU brings together two unique fields of expertise. At SDU, the Centre for Quantum Mathematics has developed a theoretical model for a quantum computer based on topological quantum field theory.
At DTU, bigQ, the Center for Macroscopic Quantum States, has already developed and is working on an optical quantum computer platform.
“The idea is for us at DTU to experimentally test some of the exciting new ideas developed by our colleagues at SDU, and which we will try to implement in practice,” says Jonas Schou Neergaard-Nielsen.
“Among other things, we will work with so-called GKP states, which hopefully can help us develop a perfect qubit for use in the quantum computer. If we succeed in doing this, it will help overcome the errors that have created problems in quantum computers so far, and we will be able to prove that basic processing of quantum data in a topological quantum computer is possible,” says Jonas Schou Neergaard-Nielsen.
The collaborative project will start in June 2024 and run for five years.
