Quantum Information Processing Accomplishments

For decades, researchers found that aspects of the subatomic world presented insurmountable obstacles to building a quantum computer. But new and surprising advances spearheaded by Quantum Information Processing researchers have removed many of these obstacles, and have also created a better understanding of the quantum world.

• CIFAR program members have created and operated the largest quantum information processor to date, a 12-qubit system. (Qubits are the basic units of quantum information – the analog of “bits” in classical computing.) Processing information at the sub-atomic level could allow researchers to tackle challenges that are insurmountable with classical computers.

• Program members used superconductors create the first electrical, circuit-based, two-qubit quantum information processor. In other words, they built a simple quantum computer. Their superconducting circuits take advantage of the well-developed micro-fabrication technology that is used to build today’s conventional computers, and are therefore promising platforms for constructing scalable quantum systems with more qubits, larger quantum processors and ultimately, dramatic speed gains over today’s classical computers.

• Some of the computational problems that the program is working to solve with quantum computers arise in the area of secure storage, transfer and processing of information – a field known as cryptography. For example, many program members are using theory to better understand both the promise – and limits – of quantum information processing, allowing them to focus their efforts in other areas that show the greatest potential for secure quantum cryptography.