2023-05-01 08:35:57
Tunneling until the solution comes: The processor of a “quantum annealer”
Image: D-Wave
Nothing really useful can be calculated with quanta yet. But where the first applications will be will surprise some.
IIn the unadorned room, the future is in the form of a large, black cupboard. The logo of the manufacturer D-Wave Systems lights up at the top. Inside, laboriously insulated from the disruptive environment and cooled to very low temperatures, 5,000 superconducting circuits are at work – each one representing a quantum bit, or qubit for short, the elementary storage unit for quantum information. This device is a “quantum annealer,” a kind of analog computer of the quantum information age, explains Kristel Michielsen. The Belgian physics professor is leading the development of the quantum computer infrastructure at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
When it comes to quantum computers, many contemporaries think of code-cracking – or deep basic research. Work is also being done on tangible industrial applications. In Jülich, for example, they are working on processes that can be used for milling and laser cutting of turbine wheels. Another, economically important area of application could be optimization problems, as they occur in many places in business and society.
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