I Don’t Want to Win Lying Down

America,

International Business Machines Corporation Headquarters,

This is the world's largest information technology and business solutions company, usually called IBM by others, and it has a number of heavyweight laboratories, including quantum computer experiments, and IBM has a good reputation in the field of quantum computers. Performance.

Unlike Google,

IBM put forward the concept of quantum advantage, aiming at real application scenarios, showing the ability of quantum computing to surpass classical computing. The implication is that quantum advantage must not only reflect the crushing of computing power, but also be useful.

According to Moore's Law in the quantum age that IBM believes, the quantum volume will double every year, and it is expected to achieve quantum advantage in the 2020s.

And IBM defines a quantum volume index, which is a parameter related to the number of active qubits and error rate - the more qubits and the lower the error rate, the larger the quantum volume.

therefore,

There is a stark contrast between IBM and Google in the field of quantum computers. The emergence of Google's quantum hegemony is just to increase confidence in the technology and industry circles. It cannot bring real commercial value, because Google uses it to demonstrate quantum computing. Algorithms of hegemony are pointless.

However, quantum advantage is working hard to achieve commercial value. No one can predict when it will come. It is necessary to find a quantum algorithm with practical value and demonstrate it, but this is not an easy task.

Orkney is the head of IBM's quantum computer laboratory. He just came to his laboratory, but... the next second he was approached by his colleagues.

What?

Hua Guo... developed a chip with 50 qubits?! Orkney looked at his colleagues in horror. At this time, he was greatly shocked. In the field of quantum computers, Hua Guo Basically there is no sense of existence.

It's being reported now. The balding middle-aged man said seriously: Orkney...you should read the news.

moment,

Orkney saw the news about Huaguo's fifty qubit chips, and when he knew it was Xu Mang, he was beyond shocked.

this...

It's amazing,

This...he came to the quantum computer field quietly.

Graphene again? He solved the 'coherence time' of graphene qubits? How the hell is this done? I recall that graphene, although it has been studied in superconducting quantum computing devices, has not yet involved coherence The recorded report...Xu Mang actually solved it?

Xu Yang structure?

What kind of existence is this?

Too many doubts filled Orkney's brain, which made him feel suffocated for a while.

Orkney?

What should we do now? The middle-aged man asked, If the report is true... then the team led by Xu Mang will be on the same level as us.

Won't.

At present, the research results in this area have not appeared in front of our eyes. It is a bit unrealistic to rely only on the reports of the news media. Orkney said seriously: And our fifty-three qubits Quantum cloud computing service is about to be completed, and we will still maintain the number one position in the world in the field of application.

Although Huaguo was shocked by the huge leap in the field of quantum computers, Orkney still has a lot of doubts based on news reports. The most perfect solution is to provide relevant evidence.

As for the ranking issue, Orkney is even less worried that Huaguo will surpass itself. Fifty quantum chips only have this ability to join the field of quantum computers, but in terms of application, IBM occupies an absolute height.

According to the layout,

Quantum cloud computing services will be the perfect embodiment of commercial value.

if...

Xu Mang will develop more qubit chips in the future, so... how should we deal with it? The middle-aged man frowned: We have no relevant countermeasures. Once this happens, we can only helplessly. Watching him become number one in the world.

Won't!

Including our competitor Google, only 53 qubits have been achieved at most. In a short period of time... 53 qubits is the limit. Orkney said with certainty: It will not exceed This value.

Facing Orkney's statement, the middle-aged man nodded. Although it has been rumored that Google is testing a chip containing 72 qubits, there has been no news about this news and the past two full months.

The so-called quantum error correction in the true sense is always in a concept.

at the same time,

Google Quantum Computer Research Lab.

A group of people were in shock. Many people expressed doubts about Huaguo's achievements. Apart from their own sense of superiority, it was also because they did not provide relevant professional research reports.

Fake!

They are good at making fakes. A young-looking man said disdainfully: According to what I know about Huaguo, they don't have the ability to study fifty qubit chips.

In many reports, Huaguo and Xu Mang were questioned. Among them, CNN, which Xu Mang hailed as junk media, also known as CNN, specifically targeted Huaguo's fifty qubit chips. exclusive report.

And what's inside...

Xu Mang was criticized for being useless, and by the way, Hua Guo was belittled.

I think...

We need to treat this problem rationally. A young woman said, Xu Mang...he is a famous scientist and has the right to speak authoritatively in many fields. Since it was developed by him...I think There is a high probability that this news is true.”

Regarding whether the news is true,

It is roughly divided into three categories, some of them think it is true, some people think it is fake news, and some are waiting to see.

soon,

This topic passed away, and everyone started to work intensely again, but there was a middle-aged man who kept watching the news, his brows were furrowed from the beginning. He was the head of the research laboratory, Professor Merck.

How can it be?

Hua Guo just uploaded an article on arXiv not long ago, about the boson sampling problem of realizing 10^14 state space of 20 input photons in a 60-mode interferometer.

Why all of a sudden...a chip with up to fifty qubits?

Professor Merck was lost in thought. Could it be... the team that uploaded an article on arXiv was obviously not Xu Mang. In this way... it shows that Huaguo attaches great importance to quantum computers.

Before that,

Professor Merck is not worried about being surpassed. After all, in this field, Google and IBM have monopolized all related technologies, but now it is different...a person he least wants to meet suddenly breaks into the field of quantum computers.

fifty qubits,

He actually got a ticket for 'Quantum Supremacy'.

Damn it!

How did you do it? Professor Merck frowned. Through the sporadic content, he knew that Xu Mang realized the qubit by relying on graphene and using a 'Xu Yang structure', but the content only ended there. .

at this time,

Professor Merck was frustrated. He had previously studied graphene for quantum computing devices, but he and his team could not solve the problem of temporal coherence.

However, it never occurred to me that Xu Mang from Huaguo actually solved this problem, and... also used a method called 'Xu Yang structure' to realize qubits directly on graphene, which... What's going on here?

What is the structure of Xu Yang?

At this time,

Professor Merck thought of a terrible thing. It was possible that Xu Mang had found a structural form that surpassed the Josephson knot.

bang bang bang,

There was a knock on the door of the office, and for a moment...a young man appeared in front of Professor Merck.

professor!

Our 'Bristlecone Pine' chip... encountered a little trouble. The young man said helplessly: In theory, the matrix arrangement of the nearest neighbor coupling is a necessary condition for surface-encoded quantum error correction, but... .It seems to be limited in terms of packaging technology.

What?

Isn't flip-chip soldering okay? Professor Merck asked in surprise.

right!

We found a lot of problems during welding, mainly in the material... The young man glanced at Merck and said cautiously: We lack a material, although the structure of the material has been roughly determined through experiments, but ...

pause for a moment,

But we don't have a very critical adhesive, the young man continued.

Adhesive?

What adhesive? asked Professor Merck.

That's...that's... For a while, the young man didn't know how to speak, organized his words, and said, We lack the photoresist adhesive mastered by Xu Mang of Huaguo. kind of adhesive.

Hearing these words, Professor Merck's face turned pale. Only Xu Mang possessed this kind of adhesive in the world, and the price was ridiculously expensive, and...the most important thing was that he would not sell it to European and American companies at all.

What to do?

The absence of this adhesive meant that the 'bristlecone pine' chips would fail.

professor...

Will this project be terminated? The young man asked worriedly: We have put a lot of effort into this project. If it is terminated, it will be greatly affected.

Let me figure out a way, said Professor Merck.

Immediately afterwards,

There was only Merck left in the office, and he was in a state of confusion. If Xu Mang was lucky enough to sell him this adhesive, he would definitely make many demands that he could not accept.

It's not that this has never happened before. MIT still has a story about Xu Mang's modification of STM technology and splitting it into two for technical fraud.

Tech blackmail...

It never occurred to me that an American multinational technology company would encounter technical blackmail.

well...

Professor Merck sighed, and found Professor Smith from Princeton University in the phone book. He heard that Professor Smith and Xu Mang had a good relationship. Merck hoped that Professor Smith could communicate with Xu Mang and sell him some adhesive. .

soon,

The call went through.

Smith, it's me... Merck, said Professor Merck.

oh?

Is there anything you can do for me? Merck. Smith asked curiously.

you...

Can you contact Xu Mang for me? Merck said helplessly, I need his help.

After hearing what Merck said, Smith couldn't help but fell into silence. After a long time, he said seriously, If you are willing to pay a huge price, I can help you contact Xu Mang.

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