Microsoft Corporation makes quantum computing leap with Quantinuum

Yesterday, Microsoft and Microsoft Azure published blog posts that could potentially change the future of computers: ‘How Microsoft and Quantinuum achieved reliable quantum computing’.

As of yesterday, Microsoft has managed the first experimental test run of quantum computing (30 physical qubits, arranged together to form virtual or ‘logical’ qubits) which produced error-free results.

The next phase of quantum computing reached

Jason Zander, executive vice president at Microsoft, explained the breakthrough’s significance on the official Microsoft blog:

Today is such a historic moment: for the first time on record as an industry, we’re advancing from Level 1 Foundational to Level 2 Resilient quantum computing. We’re now entering the next phase for solving meaningful problems with reliable quantum computers.”

Understanding error correction in quantum computing

For those of us who aren’t physicists or computer geniuses, Dr. Núria Costa (PhD), Cryptography Researcher at Scytl, explained the theory behind this:

Compared with standard computers, quantum computers are extremely susceptible to noise. The quantum state of qubits is extremely fragile and any disturbance, such as a slight vibration or a change in temperature, can uncontrollably affect the computer, causing information stored to be lost… like a qubit losing its quantum state and consequently causing errors in computations.”

In other words: it doesn’t matter how powerful in terms of physical qubits a quantum computer is – if it has errors that can’t be corrected, it can’t be used to solve any problems or make any calculations.

A success rate of 100% in 14,000

The explanation from Costa brings home the significance of Microsoft and Quantinuum’s milestone. Zander explained the technical specifics further in a post on LinkedIn:

Using the logical qubits we created, we were able to successfully perform multiple active syndrome extractions, which is when errors are diagnosed without destroying the logical qubits. Active syndrome extraction helps quantum computers stay reliable even when operations are imperfect… we’re paving the way for scientific and commercial breakthroughs that were once deemed impossible.”

According to Zander, the trial included 14,000 individual experiments performed – without one single error, before unheard of in quantum computing.

Specifically, that means an improvement rate of 800x in error correction, according to Microsoft Azure’s Dennis Tom and Krysta Svore.

Understandably, Microsoft was elated with the news.

“This is such an exciting milestone on our path toward unlocking the scientific and commercial progress that will come from reliable quantum computation,” commented Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on LinkedIn.

The Microsoft stock price

Microsoft stock yesterday dipped 0.23% to $420.45, likely not as a result of the news, but rather turbulence in the stock market following the announcement that Microsoft would unbundle Teams from Microsoft Office going forward.

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