Quantum Computing
The future of accelerated computing is Quantum Computing. Current systems are now in production working in a hybrid environment with supercomputers. These systems show the potential of Quantum Computing to make a step-change in processing power for simulations, encryption and parallel computation applications.
New Quantum Computing simulators allow organisations to get a head start on coding and testing Quantum algorithms, to be ready to deploy on Quantum Computing hybrid platforms.
XENON has been at the forefront of accelerated computing since 1996, and with the XENON Quantum Computing simulation tools, you can start your work in Quantum Computing today.
What is Quantum Computing?
Quantum Computing uses qubits as the basis of computation. Qubits are quantum-mechanical systems, which exhibit the peculiar properties required for Quantum computing (e.g. electrons and their spin, photons and their polarisation, ions, atomic nuclei and their spin, SQUID devices, etc.). The unique features of qubits arise from the obscure world of quantum physics which makes them challenging to work with but also very powerful.
Qubits exist in a quantum state and have superposition – they can hold multiple values simultaneously until their actual state/value is measured. So a qubit can be positive (like a bit is a 1) or negative (which is like a bit being a zero), but quantum superposition means that qubits can also hold two states at the same time (say negative and positive for electron qubits). Superposition is a key feature of quantum mechanics and core to quantum computing.
The second unique feature of qubits in a quantum state is entanglement. This is where the states of two qubits are tied to each other (correlated/entangled) and the value of one qubit then depends on the value of the other qubit. Then when the qubits are separated in space, the “entanglement” remains. When qubits are entangled, then measuring the value of one qubit instantaneously determines the value of the other (entangled) qubit. This is one of the paradoxes of quantum physics which is exploited in Quantum Computing.
This has obvious implication for parallel computing and the race is on to understand and manage quantum entanglement in a consistent, error-free way.
Want to learn more about Quantum Computing?
Check out the ABC Boyer Lecture series from 2023, with Professor Michelle Simmons AO, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at the University of NSW.
The Linux Foundation has a short, online self paced course, The Fundamentals of Quantum Computing, access it here.
XENON CTO, Dr Werner Scholz, has also presented about Quantum Computing – check out the overview and slides here.
Feel free to contact the XENON team, we’re happy to have a chat about Quantum and how you can get started with simulators and coding tools for Quantum Computing.
Talk to a Solutions ArchitectHow will Quantum Computing impact us?
While Quantum Computing will be able to perform certain computing tasks faster, the parallel nature of entanglement makes quantum computing ideal for problems with large numbers of variables and simulations with large numbers of parameters. Problems like optimization and real-time adjustments to transport time-tables across multiple services (trains, trams, buses and ferries); encryption and cryptography, and AI and machine learning are all examples of problems that will suit Quantum Computing.
A large portion of the research into Quantum Computing is identifying what problems are best suited to Quantum applications. Quantum Computing simulators are an exciting way to test ideas and code to identify best use applications.
Challenges in Quantum Computing
There are number of companies advancing towards stable and reliable quantum computers now. The main challenges are scaling the number of qubits, stability, noise, and error correction. On top of that, there are many engineering challenges in designing and building Quantum Computers!
Get started in Quantum Computing Now
Even though there are challenges in building a quantum computer, there is a lot of work going on now to simulate and test algorithms. XENON provides a number of solutions which provide a platform for developing and testing code for Quantum Computing.
NVIDIA® CUDA-QNVIDIA® CUDA-Q is a platform for integrating quantum emulation, GPUs and CPUs. CUDA-Q is built for high performance, is open source and provides a high level language to develop and run hybrid quantum applications. |
NVIDIA® cuQuantumNVIDIA® cuQuantum is a Software Development Kit (SDK) for accelerating quantum circuit simulation. Integrated into Quantum development tools like Cirq, Qiskit, Pennylane and more, cuQuantum allows researchers to simulate ideal or noisy qubits with scale and performance. |
NVIDIA DGX QuantumNVIDIA DGX Quantum is an integrated system and architecture for quantum-classical computing. Combining NVIDIA Grace Hopper superchips with the OPX Control System from Quantum Machines, the DGX Quantum offers sub-microsecond latency between quantum control system and the GPU – delivering real time, GPU-accelerated error correction, calibration and control. DGX Quantum can scale from a few to a thousand qubits. |
For a detailed deep dive on Quantum simulations on HPC CMOS hardware, review Dr Scholz’s blog post and slides here.
Talk to XENON today, and accelerate your Quantum Computing future!
Talk to a Solutions Architect