Quantum computers have A big problem. Or to be more precise, a lot of unbelievably small things. These futuristic devices promise to revolutionize everything from finance to drug discovery by harnessing the power of quantum uncertainty—instead of using bits like your laptop or phone. You, quantum computers use qubits, which means they will be able to perform certain tasks much faster than traditional computers and can better simulate natural processes.
Tech giants including Google, Microsoft and IBM are racing to build quantum devices, but overall the field is mired in an era that the business world calls “mid-scale quantum”. noisy time” or NISQ. Today’s quantum computers are fragile devices that can be deflected by the slightest environmental interference: They’re slow, small-scale, and imprecise, which means they’re virtually useless for now. .
Sabrina Maniscalco is hoping to change that. She is the co-founder and CEO of Algorithm, one of the few startups developing software for the noisy quantum computers we have access to today. “Software and algorithms for near-future devices are key to revealing and unlocking useful industrial applications,” she said.
The company emerged from research at the University of Helsinki, where Maniscalco is a professor of quantum information, computing and logic, after stints in South Africa, her native Edinburgh and Sicily. “It started with us trying to figure out the best applications for these very noisy early quantum computers,” she said.
They solve the “noise” problem. Algorithmiq is developing ways to combat the noise that affects quantum computers: not the hum of a cooling fan, but small changes in the environment that can push qubits out of a fragile state called a pile. It is this state—which can be thought of roughly as not 0 or 1, but both at the same time—that makes quantum computers so powerful but also so difficult to build.
Algorithmiq is finding sophisticated methods for noise modeling and noise reduction so that early stage devices can be used for experiments. For starters, the company is focusing on chemical simulations—a promising potential use case for quantum computers because they simulate the uncertainty of nature. It is benchmarking its noise reduction algorithms by simulating molecules like dichromium—simple enough to simulate with current quantum computers but complex enough to show the power of devices. suffer this. Maniscalco says Algorithmiq—which recently announced a partnership with IBM—is planning to apply the same principles to more complex structures in the future, with potential applications including drug discovery. in the pharmaceutical industry. “We consider ourselves the first quantum biotech company,” she said.
This article was originally published in the January/February 2023 issue of WIRED UK magazine.
