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Tracing uncertainty: Google harnesses quantum mechanics at California lab

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Huw Griffith, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Dr. Erik Lucero, Lead Engineer of Google Quantum AI, leads media on a tour of the Quantum Computing Lab at the Quantum AI campus in Goleta, California on Sept. 21, 2022. In Google" s="" Quantum="" AI="" dozens="" of="" super="" smart="" people="" labor="" to="" shape="" the="" next="" generation="" computers="" a="" that="" will="" be="" unlike="" anything="" you="" have="" in="" your="" pocket="" or="" office.="" field="" research="" scientists="" say="" could="" used="" day="" help="" limit="" global="" design="" city="" traffic="" systems="" develop="" powerful="" new="" drugs.="" Frederic="" J.="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/afp/09/29/20220929-google-quantum-afp.jpg"/><figcaption>Dr. Erik Lucero, Lead Engineer of Google Quantum AI, leads media on a tour of the Quantum Computing Lab at the Quantum AI campus in Goleta, California on Sept. 21, 2022. In Google&#x27;s Quantum AI laboratory, dozens of super smart people labor to shape the next generation of computers -- a generation that will be unlike anything you have in your pocket or in your office. It&#x27;s a field of research that scientists say could be used one day to help limit global warming, design city traffic systems or develop powerful new drugs. <em>Frederic J. Brown, AFP </em></figcaption></figure></div><p>GOLETA, United States — Outside, balmy September sunshine warms an idyllic coast, as California basks in yet another perfect day.</p><p>Inside, it&#x27;s minus 273 Celsius in some spots, pockets of cold that bristle with the impossible physics of quantum mechanics -- a science in which things can simultaneously exist, not exist and also be something in between.</p><p>This is Google&#x27;s Quantum AI laboratory, where dozens of super-smart people labor in an office kitted out with climbing walls and electric bikes to shape the next generation of computers -- a generation that will be unlike anything users currently have in their pockets or offices.</p><p>&quot;It is a new type of computer that uses quantum mechanics to do computations and allows us... to solve problems that would otherwise be impossible,&quot; explains Erik Lucero, lead engineer at the campus near Santa Barbara.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s not going to replace your mobile phone, your desktop; it&#x27;s going to be working in parallel with those things.&quot;</p><p>Quantum mechanics is a field of research that scientists say could be used one day to help limit global warming, design city traffic systems, or develop powerful new drugs.</p><p>The promises are so great that governments, tech giants, and start-ups around the world are investing billions of dollars in it, employing some of the biggest brains around.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/24/19/quantum-leap-in-computing-as-google-claims-supremacy">Quantum leap in computing as Google claims &#x27;supremacy&#x27;</a></li></ul><div><strong>SCHRODINGER&#x27;S CAT</strong></div><p>Old-fashioned computing is built on the idea of binary certainty: tens of thousands of &quot;bits&quot; of data that are each definitely either &quot;on&quot; or &quot;off,&quot; represented by either a one or a zero.</p><p>Quantum computing uses uncertainty: its &quot;qubits&quot; can exist in a state of both one-ness and zero-ness in what is called a superposition.</p><p>The most famous illustration of a quantum superposition is Schrodinger&#x27;s cat -- a hypothetical animal locked in a box with a flask of poison which may or may not shatter.</p><p>While the box is shut, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. But once you interfere with the quantum state and open the box, the question of the cat&#x27;s life or death is resolved.</p><p>Quantum computers use this uncertainty to perform lots of seemingly contradictory calculations at the same time -- a bit like being able to go down every possible route in a maze all at once, instead of trying each one in series until you find the right path.</p><p>The difficulty for quantum computer designers is getting these qubits to maintain their superposition long enough to make a calculation. </p><p>As soon as something interferes with them -- noise, muck, the wrong temperature -- the superposition collapses, and you&#x27;re left with a random and likely nonsensical answer. </p><p>The quantum computer Google showed off to journalists resembles a steampunk wedding cake hung upside-down from a support structure.</p><p>Each layer of metal and curved wires gets progressively colder, down to the final stage, where the palm-sized processor is cooled to just 10 Millikelvin, or about -273 Celsius.</p><p>That temperature -- only a shade above absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible in the universe -- is vital for the superconductivity Google&#x27;s design relies on.</p><p>While the layer-cake computer is not huge -- about half a person high -- a decent amount of lab space is taken up with the equipment to cool it -- pipes whoosh overhead with helium dilutions compressing and expanding, using the same process that keeps your refrigerator cold.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/04/20/honeywell-unveils-plan-for-most-powerful-quantum-computer">Honeywell unveils plan for &#x27;most powerful&#x27; quantum computer</a></li></ul><div><strong>FUTURE</strong></div><p>But... what does it all actually do?</p><p>Well, says Daniel Lidar, an expert in quantum systems at the University of Southern California, it&#x27;s a field that promises much when it matures, but which is still a toddler.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ve learned how to crawl but we&#x27;ve certainly not yet learned how to how to walk or jump or run,&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>The key to its growth will be solving the problem of the superpositional collapses -- the opening of the cat&#x27;s box -- to allow for meaningful calculations.</p><p>As this process of error correction improves, problems such as city traffic optimization, which is fiendishly hard on a classical computer because of the number of independent variables involved -- the cars themselves -- could come within reach, said Lidar.</p><p>&quot;On (an error-corrected) quantum computer, you could solve that problem,&quot; he said.</p><p>For Lucero and his colleagues, these future possibilities are worth the brain ache.</p><p>&quot;Quantum mechanics is one of the best theories that we have today to experience nature. This is a computer that speaks the language of nature.</p><p>&quot;And if we want to go out and figure out these really challenging problems, to help save our planet, and things like climate change, than having a computer that can do exactly that, I&#x27;d want that.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/14/21/chinese-quantum-computer-record-processing">Chinese quantum computer ‘sets record’ in processing test</a></li></ul><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1755669" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

In Google's Quantum AI laboratory, dozens of super-smart people labor to shape the next generation of computers.

Tracing uncertainty: Google harnesses quantum mechanics at California lab

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Tracing uncertainty: Google harnesses quantum mechanics at California lab

Huw Griffith,

Agence France-Presse

Published September 29, 2022 12:00 PM PHT

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