
Quantinuum claims world’s most complex quantum computer with H2
Quantinuum has launched its second generation quantum computer that is a significant step towards fault tolerant quantum computing.
The System Model H2 has 32 fully-connected, high-fidelity qubits and an all-new architecture with a new ion trap whose oval shape resembles a racetrack. Quantinuum showcased the H2’s capability by demonstrating a 32-qubit GHZ state, a non-classical state with all 32 qubits globally entangled. This is the largest on record and is the reason the company says this is the highest performing quantum computer ever built.
The racetrack design of the System Model H2 enables all-to-all connectivity between qubits, meaning that every qubit in the H2 can directly be pairwise entangled with any other qubit in the system. Near-term doing so reduces the overall errors in algorithms, and long term opens up additional opportunities for new, more efficient error correcting codes.
Both of these are critical for continuing to accelerate the capabilities of quantum computing. When combined with the demonstration of controlled non-Abelian anyons. These are essentially qubits with limited gate capacity created in a way where the properties could be precisely controlled in real-time, demonstrating the creation, braiding and annihilation of the non-Abelian anyons.
The core team for this development is based in Munich and led by Dr. Henrik Dreyer.
The H2 design is a powerful step towards showing the scaling potential of ion-trap devices. It scales ion traps in the quantum charge coupled device (QCCD) architecture: showing the ability to simultaneously scale qubit number while maintaining performance and also contains new technologies that pave the way for further scaling in subsequent generations.
H2 is designed to be upgraded over its product lifecycle, meaning that qubit number and qubit quality will both be improved upon. It H2 launches with a Quantum Volume 65,536 surpassing the last record announced using H1-1 in February of this year.
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“With our second-generation system, we are entering a new phase of quantum computing. H2 highlights the opportunity to achieve valuable outcomes that are only possible with a quantum computer. The development of the H2 processor is also a critical step in moving towards universal fault tolerant quantum computing,” said Tony Uttley, President and COO of Quantinuum and founder of Honeywell Quantum Solutions before it was merged with Cambridge Quantum Cmputing to form Quantinuum.
“This demonstration is a beautiful proof point in the power of our H-Series hardware roadmap and reinforces our primary purpose which is to enable our customers to tackle problems that were previously beyond the reach of classical computers. The implications for society are significant and we are excited to see how this technology truly changes the world.”
“Fault tolerant quantum computing is our ultimate aim. Our world leadership in quantum computing continues to be showcased and proven by real advances, and the creation and manipulation of non-Abelian anyons to create topological qubits is another example that when incredible tools are given to brilliant people, they will find something amazing to do with them,” said Ilyas Khan, Founder and Chief Product Officer at Quantinuum and the former CEO.
“This could well be a transistor moment for the quantum computing industry – and the fact that we have used a quantum computer as the machine tool for building topological qubits that are a significant step towards fault tolerant quantum computing is further testimony to our long-held belief that quantum systems are best explored and created by other quantum systems. This is precisely what Feynman anticipated in his now famous remarks that are so often quoted as foundations for quantum computing,” he said.
Dr. Rajeeb (Raj) Hazra, CEO of Quantinuum said, “For anyone who thought that quantum computers that are able to push forward the boundaries of human knowledge and scientific progress are still in the far distance, today marks a turning point. A world leading team of scientists have used Quantinuum’s H2 quantum computer to achieve something that was previously not possible.”
“The H2 provides a breakaway moment for Quantinuum. Our second-generation quantum computer powered by the H2 quantum processor and associated software, delivers the industry’s best performance today, while laying the groundwork for significantly accelerating the path for fault-tolerant quantum computing,” he added.
The results, which were published today in a pre-print of a detailed scientific paper that has been made available on arXiv.
The H2 is available now through cloud-based access from Quantinuum and will be available through Microsoft Azure Quantum beginning in June. Additionally, a noise-informed emulator of H2 is made possible through NVIDIA’s cuQuantum SDK of optimized libraries and tools, which help accelerate quantum computing simulation workflows.
