Intel today reported (Nature) successful control a ‘silicon spin’ qubit at 100 degrees Kelvin – that’s a relatively balmy departure from the frigid milliKelvin environment most qubits require. Last week, the National Science Foundation and IBM, AWS, and Microsoft launched a pilot program to provide expanded access to their quantum platforms. Yesterday, quantum tool-maker Q-CTRL announced added funding from In-Q-Tel, the not-for-profit strategic investor that identifies technology solutions to support the national security communities of the U.S.

“Our demonstration of hot qubits that can operate at higher temperatures while maintaining high fidelity paves the way to allow a variety of local qubit control options without impacting qubit performance,” said Jim Clarke, director of quantum hardware, Intel Labs, in the announcement.

Given the amount of public and private effort now being poured into quantum development, it may be reasonable to expect practical advances will occur sooner rather than later – a couple of years versus a decade. Before digging into the news, here’s an interesting perspective from noted quantum researcher and blogger Scott Aaronson (UT, Austin) from an excellent talk[I] two weeks ago on quantum computing generally and Google’s work to achieve Quantum Supremacy:

“[Finding practical applications] is a major, major focus of quantum algorithms research right now because we know that we’re going to have these noisy devices with 50 or 100 or 200 qubits over the course of the next decade. And we don’t really know what they’re good for. This demonstration of quantum supremacy, which Google just did, was great, but of course it would be even better if we could do something useful.”

“I think the best shot that we have for doing something useful with these noisy near-term devices is going to be to do some kind of quantum simulation, probably of some materials of some condensed matter system. Although, [if] we’re really lucky then maybe even in chemistry. That will tell the scientists in the relevant area – the material scientists, that condensed matter physicists, the chemists – something interesting about their system that they didn’t already know. That would be a tremendously exciting next milestone. And it is possible that we could achieve that using noisy devices.”

“There’s a lot of talk about other applications for near-term quantum computers, like, for example, for optimization and machine learning. It is crucial for everyone to understand that those applications are very, very speculative, meaning that even if you have a perfect quantum computer, we still don’t know what kind of speed-ups [they] are going to give you [over classical systems].”

So is the glass half-full or half-empty?

Here’s a snapshot of the recent news:

• Intel’s Beach Day. Until recently Intel has been fairly quiet about its quantum efforts. That’s quickly changing as it enters QC in earnest. The recent work (Universal quantum logic in hot silicon qubits), done in collaboration with QuTech, highlighted individual coherent control of two qubits with single-qubit fidelities of up to 99.3%. “These breakthroughs highlight the potential for cryogenic controls of a future quantum system and silicon spin qubits, which closely resemble a single electron transistor,” says Intel.
• NSF et al. NSF issued a Dear Colleague letter (presented in full at end of this article) announcing it would coordinate with AWS, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum to make available cloud-based quantum-computing platforms to advance research and build capacity in the academic setting. NSF will “support supplemental funding requests for active awards to enable use of these quantum-computing cloud platforms…In parallel, Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum intend to make platform use available to recipients of these supplemental awards at no financial cost, pending a mutually agreeable arrangement between the principal investigators (PIs) and a given company.”
• Q-CTRL’s Growing Haul. This Australian start-up, among other things, develops firmware to help cope with the many hardware shortcomings of current quantum-based systems. The flow of funds into these kinds of companies has quickened as the solutions they deliver will prove critical in making the current generation NISQ – noisy intermediate scale quantum – computers useful. Q-CTRL says it tackles the “Achilles” heel of quantum computers. The amount of funding from In-Q-Tel wasn’t disclosed. Other investors include Sequoia Capital and Sierra Ventures, for example.

We seem to be entering a time of vigorous activity in an increasingly crowded quantum computing development community. Technology development, expanding access to existing quantum platforms, and funding from varied sources all seem to be ratchetting up. In a sense, it’s a fascinating experiment in whether crowd-sourcing in an area that once had few players will now substantially accelerate those efforts. Keeping pace with events is a challenge.

Let’s start with Intel. One advantage it has by working with silicon dots is it leverages existing semiconductor manufacturing and packaging methods. So far Intel has said little about its quantum processor but it has suggested it too will eventually provide access via the web. The recent work QuTech[ii] demonstrates steady progress and potentially an area of advantage over competing superconducting approaches.

This from the paper’s abstract:

“[L]eading solid-state approaches function only at temperatures below 100 millikelvin, where cooling power is extremely limited, and this severely affects the prospects of practical quantum computation. Recent studies of electron spins in silicon have made progress towards a platform that can be operated at higher temperatures by demonstrating long spin lifetimes, gate-based spin readout and coherent single-spin control. However, a high-temperature two-qubit logic gate has not yet been demonstrated. Here we show that silicon quantum dots can have sufficient thermal robustness to enable the execution of a universal gate set at temperatures greater than one kelvin.

“We obtain single-qubit control via electron spin resonance and readout using Pauli spin blockade. In addition, we show individual coherent control of two qubits and measure single-qubit fidelities of up to 99.3 per cent. We demonstrate the tunability of the exchange interaction between the two spins from 0.5 to 18 megahertz and use it to execute coherent two-qubit controlled rotations. The demonstration of ‘hot’ and universal quantum logic in a semiconductor platform paves the way for quantum integrated circuits that host both the quantum hardware and its control circuitry on the same chip, providing a scalable approach towards practical quantum information processing.”

As Intel emphasized, “Applying quantum computing to practical problems hinges on the ability to scale to and control thousands – if not millions – of qubits at the same time with high levels of fidelity. However, current quantum systems designs are limited by overall system size, qubit fidelity and especially the complexity of control electronics required to manage the quantum at large scale. Having the control electronics and spin qubits integrated on the same chip greatly simplifies the interconnects between the two.”

The NSF initiative is broadly aimed at increasing the number of researchers tackling quantum computing and quantum information sciences broadly. Access to participating platforms is “at no financial cost, pending a mutually agreeable arrangement between the principal investigators (PIs) and a given company.” NSF will be granting supplemental funding requests not to exceed $50,000. Including commercial companies a good idea as, at least for now, they have most of the quantum hardware resources an in the cases mentioned, established web-access methods. It seems likely other quantum platform may become available over time.

Before turning to the NSF Dear Colleague letter here’s a tidbit about Google’s Quantum Supremacy work that may amuse. You may remember the paper was “leaked” beforehand, embarrassing Google. Turns out Google was the unknowing culprit. Aaronson worked with Google on the project and recalls the turn of events.

“It was actually very funny what happened. The story leaked to the press, like a month before their paper was published in Nature. This was because NASA which has some coauthors of the work accidentally posted a draft of the paper on its public website. And then before they could take it down, Google Alerts actually found it. So, you know, Google actually undermined itself in some sense. And so this story started getting into the press. And, you know, no one knew what to make of it. And meanwhile, Google was under embargo. because, you know, because of the nature’s policies, they couldn’t comment on it,” said Aaronson.

Here is the full text of the NSF Letter:  

April 10, 2020

Dear Colleagues:

The field of quantum computing has seen substantial progress in recent years, with the development of next-generation quantum processors in the 50- to 100-qubit range. Realizing the promise of such processors requires significant capacity-building to prepare the next generation of quantum discoverers. In light of the quantum-computing developments in the private sector as well as the opportunity for further innovation in the academic setting, the National Science Foundation and Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum are coordinating to make available cloud-based quantum-computing platforms to advance research and build capacity in the academic setting. More information about the platforms is available below.

• Amazon Braket: https://aws.amazon.com/braket/
• IBM Quantum: https://www.ibm.com/quantum-computing/
• Microsoft Quantum: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/quantum/

With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) wish to notify the community of their intention to support supplemental funding requests for active awards to enable use of these quantum-computing cloud platforms. NSF’s supplemental funding will support graduate-student time to work on these platforms. In parallel, Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum intend to make platform use available to recipients of these supplemental awards at no financial cost, pending a mutually agreeable arrangement between the principal investigators (PIs) and a given company.

This DCL is an initial pilot to build capacity among active NSF awardees, specifically through graduate students, to enable innovation in quantum computing. The community of CISE and MPS researchers who are not already leveraging such platforms are a particular focus for this DCL. Furthermore, publication and dissemination of research-relevant experiments, code, and tutorials are strongly encouraged to ensure broad community benefit.

Supplemental funding requests will be limited to research activities in one or more of the following research area(s):

• Quantum algorithms and their experimental realization;
• Quantum compiler and run-time infrastructure design;
• Fault-tolerant computing and other methods to boost the performance of existing quantum-computing hardware;
• Benchmarking of architectures, systems, algorithms, and scalable error-correction techniques;
• Quantum simulations, optimizations, cryptography, and machine learning; and
• Demonstrations of feasibility for applications of quantum algorithms.

Each PI should describe in the supplemental funding request how the work of the graduate student(s), in combination with quantum cloud platform access, will build upon and extend research activities beyond those described in the original award. Additionally, PIs should describe any prior use of such platforms, if any, and how the requested supplemental funding will build upon that prior use.

The supplemental funding request may not exceed $50,000 and is intended to support students only for a duration of up to one year. The work to be performed on the quantum computing cloud platform should be described in the request.

In the supplemental funding request, PIs must submit a (a) document detailing the technology (superconducting qubits, trapped ions, silicon spin qubits and/or microwave pulse control) and planned level of cloud resources (e.g., number of hours, number of qubits and the cloud platform(s), number of individual instance of users, and/or other metrics) and (b) letter of support from one of the three cloud providers listed above.

Prior to submission of a supplemental funding request, PIs should reach mutually agreeable terms with the cloud provider(s) noted above, in order to secure the commitment of the cloud provider(s) to enable access rights to the system. PIs selected for funding will be notified by NSF and may subsequently contact the corresponding Point of Contact (PoC) listed below to initiate access. PIs may also contact these individuals at Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum with questions regarding the platform and resources offered, and should work with them to secure the letter of support that must be included in the supplemental funding request.

• Sanjay Padhi, Amazon Web Services, email: [email protected]
• Sebastian Hassinger, IBM, email: [email protected]
• Linda Lauw, Microsoft Quantum, email: [email protected]

For all NSF awards, grantees must submit annual project reports to NSF. In addition to the standard requirements, annual reports must provide a detailed accounting of the project’s use of quantum cloud resources and students’ time.

Supplemental funding requests pursuant to this DCL are welcome through June 18, 2020, but earlier submissions are encouraged. This opportunity is open to PIs and co-PIs with active awards from the research areas described in this DCL. Requests should be prepared in accordance with the guidance in Chapter VI.E.4 of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and submitted electronically via the NSF FastLane system. NSF will manage the review of supplemental funding requests. Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum will have no role in the review and selection process, and proposals will not be shared with Amazon Web Services, IBM, or Microsoft Quantum.

NSF will notify PIs selected for funding, at which point PIs should re-engage as negotiated with the Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum PoCs above to begin using the resources described in the proposal.

PIs interested in submitting supplemental funding requests or with questions pertaining to this DCL are strongly encouraged to contact one of the following program directors prior to submitting:

• Almadena Chtchelkanova, Program Director, CISE, telephone: (703)-292-7498, email: [email protected]
• Vipin Chaudhary, Program Director, CISE, telephone: (703) 292-2254, email: [email protected]
• Bogdan Mihaila, Program Director, MPS, telephone: (703) 292-8235, email: [email protected]
• Richard Dawes, Program Director, MPS, telephone: (703) 292-7486, email: [email protected]
• Yulia Gorb, Program Director, MPS, telephone: (703) 292-2113, email: [email protected]

Sincerely,

Margaret Martonosi
Assistant Director, CISE

Anne Kinney
Assistant Director, MPS

[i]Supercomputing Frontiers Europe/Virtual ICM Seminar, April 1, 2020, https://supercomputingfrontiers.eu/2020/virtual-icm-seminars-in-computer-and-computational-science/

[ii]QuTech is the advanced research center for Quantum Computing and Quantum Internet, a collaboration founded in 2014 by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)