"Within these tanks are sets of superconducting circuits etched into chips, all held by golden chandelierlike structures and cooled by liquid helium and liquid nitrogen. The superconducting chips are fabricated in the clean room next door, where white-suited figures work with room-size machinery, fume hoods and acid baths. The facilitythe chips, the tanks, the clean room and the enormous reserves of liquid nitrogen behind the buildingare all deployed in service of a single dream: quantum computers."
"This location is the main fabrication plant for quantum computing company Rigetti Computing in California; each refrigeration tank contains one of Rigetti's top-of-the-line quantum processing units. One day quantum computers will be able to perform certain kinds of computations orders of magnitude more quickly than the classical computers all around us, experts hope. We're talking a million [or a] billion times faster at a very, very small fractional energy consumption, Rigetti's CEO, Subodh Kulkarni, tells me."
"The beauty of quantum computing. We can potentially solve problems that are unsolvable today. Rigetti is just one of dozens of outfits hoping to capitalize on the possibilities. Over the past 20 years start-ups such as Rigetti and giants such as IBM and Google have invested big money in quantum computing$1.2 billion from venture capitalists in 2023 alone. It's a major subject of research at universities and government laboratories around the world."
"All of them are chasing the dream, but the details of that dream depend on whom you ask. Venture capitalists and other purveyors of Silicon Valley hype are promising that quantum computing will supercharge artificial intelligence, or vice versa, but experts are unconvinced of these claims. Kulkarni and others talk about quantum computers revolutionizing drug discovery"
Superconducting quantum processing units are fabricated in a nearby clean room using room-size machinery, fume hoods, and acid baths. The resulting chips are installed into cryogenic refrigeration tanks inside a low-slung facility near the San Francisco Bay. Liquid helium and liquid nitrogen cool the superconducting circuits, which are held by golden chandelierlike structures. The facility supports Rigetti Computing’s main fabrication plant in California, with each refrigeration tank containing a top-of-the-line quantum processing unit. Quantum computers are expected to perform certain computations far faster than classical computers while using a very small fraction of energy. Many companies, universities, and government labs invest heavily, but the promised benefits vary and are debated, including claims about AI and drug discovery.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]