Just recently, Neill's Google / Martinis colleagues announced an effort toward
quantum supremacy with a 72 - qubit chip possessing a «bristlecone» architecture that has yet to be put through its paces.
It's Martinis and colleagues who are now attempting to achieve
quantum supremacy with 50 qubits, and many believe they will get there soon.
Not exact matches
The team hopes to use the larger
quantum chip to demonstrate
quantum supremacy for the first time, performing a calculation that is impossible
with traditional computers (SN: 7/8/17, p. 28), Google physicist Julian Kelly reported.
For
quantum supremacy, Google will need to build a 49 - qubit system
with a two - qubit fidelity of at least 99.7 per cent.
But what is
quantum supremacy in a field where horizons are being widened on a regular basis, in which teams of the brightest
quantum computing minds in the world routinely up the ante on the number and type of
quantum bits («qubits») they can build, each
with their own range of qualities?