A Million Error-Free Quantum Operations Targeted by 2026

This article originally appeared in IoT World Today.

Riverlane, a company specializing in quantum error correction technology, has released a three-year roadmap toward quantum computers being able to run one million reliable quantum operations.

There is general agreement that to enable transformative real-world applications, quantum computers must scale to a million error-free operations, which Riverlane terms MegaQuOps, to outperform classical supercomputers.

Ultimately, quantum computers will need the ability to perform trillions of error-free operations.

Current quantum computers can perform a few hundred quantum operations before failure, making error correction essential to achieving quantum utility and supremacy.

Error Correction Technology

At the heart of Riverlane’s MegaQuOp quest is its quantum error correction technology, Deltaflow, which the company said can scale as the total number of qubits in a quantum computer grows, whatever the qubit type.

“Our three-year roadmap promises a series of major milestones on the journey to fault tolerance, culminating in enabling one million error-free quantum operations by the end of 2026,” said Riverlane vice president of product and partnerships Maria Maragkou.

“The MegaQuOp is a landmark goal as it puts us outside the regime any supercomputer can simulate.”

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Riverlane proposes QuOps as a way to compare the processing power of quantum computers, like floating-point operations per second (FLOPs) is used to rank supercomputers.

“The MegaQuOp is a critical milestone but it’s just the first step on the journey to full fault-tolerant quantum computing,” said Riverlane vice president of quantum science Earl Campbell.

“We’ll need to realize a trillion error-free operations to begin fully unlocking the higher value applications of quantum computing but this is a critical set of milestones in that journey.” 

Quantum Leap

Several quantum computing operators have announced error correction targets and breakthroughs, including Google, IBM, and Microsoft, but according to Riverlane, they need their error correction methodology to scale as fast as the number of qubits grows.

“Reaching the MegaQuOp relies on the entire quantum community pulling together to reach this goal. We are now partnering with the world’s leading quantum hardware companies to make this happen sooner than many anticipate,” Maragkou added.