Canada-UK Quantum Technologies call: Making noisy quantum processors practical: from theory to applications

量子计算机利用量子力学系统的奇怪特性来解决使用当前(经典)计算技术无法解决的计算问题。量子计算机超越经典计算机的最广为人知的任务是对大数进行因式分解，这可以用来破解加密。量子计算机自然也擅长模拟量子系统，这是一个出了名的计算难题，在材料科学和药物设计中有应用。量子计算机的潜力吸引了谷歌、IBM和亚马逊等科技巨头的投资，以及各国政府和风险资本家的投资。量子技术已经成熟到研究人员现在可以很好地控制量子计算机的基本组成部分：量子比特(Qbit)。不幸的是，最先进的量子处理器仍然遭受着脆弱的量子比特与其环境的不必要的相互作用造成的错误。在我们的项目中，我们正在开发健壮的量子算法实现，这些算法可以在当今容易出错的量子处理器上成功运行。我们的项目联合了在量子计算方面拥有丰富经验的工业界和学术界专家。这两家行业合作伙伴是两家量子软件初创公司：总部位于英国伦敦的Phasraft和总部位于加拿大基奇纳的Quantum Benchmark。PhaseCraft在为近期量子计算硬件设计容错算法方面拥有世界领先的专业知识。Quantum Benchmark是用于表征不同量子处理器中发生的错误的软件工具的领先提供商，提供对不同量子处理器的能力和限制的深入了解。学术合作伙伴是滑铁卢大学、伦敦大学学院和周米理论物理研究所。这三家公司都是领先的量子计算研究中心，在量子纠错和容错量子计算领域尤为强大。共同努力，我们的工作将加速展示量子优势在诸如量子系统模拟等工业相关问题上的应用。

Quantum computers harness the strange features of quantum mechanical systems in order to solve computational problems that cannot be solved using current (classical) computing technology. The most well-known task where quantum computers outperform classical computers is factoring large numbers, which can be used for breaking encryption. Quantum computers also naturally excel at simulating quantum systems, a notoriously difficult computational problem that has applications in materials science and drug design. The potential of quantum computers has attracted investments from technology giants including Google, IBM and Amazon, as well as from national governments and venture capitalists. Quantum technology has matured to the point where researchers now have excellent control over the elementary building blocks of a quantum computer: quantum bits (qubits). Unfortunately, state-of-the-art quantum processors still suffer from errors caused by unwanted interaction of the fragile qubits with their environment. In our project, we are developing robust implementations of quantum algorithms that can run successfully on today's error-prone quantum processors. Our project unites experts in industry and academia with extensive experience in quantum computing. The industrial partners two quantum software start-ups: Phasecraft, based in London (UK) and Quantum Benchmark, based in Kitchener (Canada). PhaseCraft has world-leading expertise in designing error-resilient algorithms for near-term quantum computing hardware. Quantum Benchmark is the leading provider of software tools for characterizing the errors that occur in different quantum processors, delivering a deep understanding of the capabilities and limitations of different quantum processors. The academic partners are the University of Waterloo, University College London, and Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. All three are leading quantum computing research centres, with particular strength in the fields of quantum error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computing. Together, our work will hasten the demonstration of quantum advantage for industrially relevant problems such as the simulation of quantum systems.