For the first time IBM has opened public access to their development of new quantum processor via the cloud. This will give users a chance to experiment with the individual quantum bits (qubits) and run their own algorithms on a quantum processor directly to IBM.
Although it is not a full-fledged quantum computer (IBM processor consists of only five superconducting qubits), but the processor is the latest achievement of IBM in the field of quantum architecture, which, according to developers, in the future it will be possible to scale to create a very large, more complex quantum processors, which will eventually lead to the creation of a universal quantum computer that allows you to solve some of the problems that simply can not be solved with classical computers.
"Quantum computers are very different from today's computers, not just how they look and what are made, but the main thing is that they can do", - says Arvind Krishna, senior vice president and general manager of IBM Research. "Quantum computing is becoming a reality. By providing direct access to the experimental quantum system, IBM to accelerate innovation in the quantum field and help interested to discover new possibilities of this technology. "
Housed in a research tsentre IBM in New York, the processor uses five qubits in superconducting metals formed in a silicon chip.
Although universal quantum computers do not yet exist, IBM believes that the average size of a quantum processor 50-100 qubits will become a reality in the next decade. A quantum computer with 50 qubits have to be more powerful than any of the world's supercomputers.
"This is a good incentive to try to create the first universal quantum computer, but this process requires that we first change our view of the world", - says Dario Gil, vice president of IBM. "Access to early prototypes of quantum computing will be key to the development of future applications. If you want to understand the capabilities of the quantum computer, you can start experimenting right now. "