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D-Wave Systems Inc. has announced that it has built a quantum annealer with over 1000 qubits. Previously, D-Wave promised to deliver 1152 qubit systems in March 2015.
D-Wave's quantum computer runs a quantum annealing algorithm to find the lowest points, corresponding to optimal or near optimal solutions, in a virtual "energy landscape." Every additional qubit doubles the search space of the processor. At 1000 qubits, the new processor considers 21000 possibilities simultaneously, a search space which dwarfs the 2512 possibilities available to the 512-qubit D-Wave Two. In fact, the new search space contains far more possibilities than there are particles in the observable universe.
The new processors comprise over 128,000 Josephson junctions (tunnel junctions with superconducting electrodes) in a 6-metal layer planar process with 0.25µm features, believed to be the most complex superconductor integrated circuits ever built.
The press release goes on to explain that the new generation of D-Wave processors runs at a 40% colder temperature (closer to absolute zero than before), reduces noise levels, and allows for "new modes of use."
A blog post explains that specific delivered systems will vary in qubit count, but should have around 1152 qubits.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday June 23 2015, @07:34PM
An analog computer is programmable but not easily programmable like a microprocessor. Ever hear of an operational amplifier or op-amp? The operation part of the name means mathematic operations. They can be setup to add, subtract, multiply, divide, compare, invert, integrate, derivative etc. voltage and/or current become your variables that are fed into these circuits so you can build a circuit to solve an equation. As you adjust your input variables (voltages/currents) the various signals are manipulated and one or more outputs gives you a result. The downside is they aren't very programmable as you have to adjust component values or add/remove entire circuits to make a program. And before electronics, mechanical systems were built and it took hours to program them to perform a single calculation.
In ye-old days it made sense to solve simple problems like the PID loop of a generator or motor controller using analog computer circuits. That was when digital computers themselves were the size of rooms or refrigerators and probably used as much or more power than the device being controlled. Then as digital computers shrank they became more practical for use in control systems. Today? An arduino based on an 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller has built in counters, timers, analog-digital converters, serial ports and digital lines while running at 16MHz or more. That little chip could run a few dozen PID loops, take care of logic and remote digital communications for a dollar something per chip in small quantities. And it is completely programmable allowing on the fly adjustments which is something an analog computer can't practically do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2015, @08:30PM
Beware of programmers that carry wire cutters in their pockets.