Washington DC [US], October 23 (ANI): In a breakthrough toward the first real-world application of quantum computing, Google Quantum AI’s Willow chip has achieved the “first-ever verifiable quantum advantage,” running its ‘Quantum Echoes’ algorithm 13,000 times faster than the best classical algorithm on one of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
Sharing the achievement on X, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted how the new algorithm can “explain interactions between atoms in a molecule using nuclear magnetic resonance” and pave the way for future discoveries in drug development and materials science.
“New breakthrough quantum algorithm published in Nature today: Our Willow chip has achieved the first-ever verifiable quantum advantage. Willow ran the algorithm—which we’ve named Quantum Echoes—13,000 times faster than the best classical algorithm on one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. This new algorithm can explain interactions between atoms in a molecule using nuclear magnetic resonance, paving a path toward potential future uses in drug discovery and materials science,” Pichai said on X.
The result obtained with the Willow chip is verifiable, meaning it can be replicated by other quantum computers or confirmed through experiments, bringing researchers closer to practical quantum computing applications. “And the result is verifiable, meaning its outcome can be repeated by other quantum computers or confirmed by experiments. This breakthrough is a significant step toward the first real-world application of quantum computing, and we’re excited to see where it leads,” he added.
According to Google, the algorithm and the chip together can compute the structure of a molecule. The Willow quantum chip has been pioneering advancements in quantum computing: in 2019, it demonstrated that a quantum computer could solve a problem that would take a supercomputer thousands of years, and in 2024, it showed that errors could be dramatically suppressed, solving a three-decade-long challenge.
Quantum Echoes is an out-of-order time correlator (OTOC) algorithm, a mechanical tool used in quantum computing. Google said it can help understand the structure of systems in nature, from molecules to magnets to black holes.
In a separate proof-of-principle experiment, the quantum computation of molecular geometry via many-body nuclear spin echoes demonstrated how the new technique, described as a “molecular ruler,” can measure longer distances than existing methods by using data from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to gain more information about chemical structures.
Google said this is the first time a quantum computer has successfully run a verifiable algorithm that surpasses supercomputers, meaning the result can be repeated on the same or similar quantum computers to confirm the outcome. “This repeatable, beyond-classical computation is the basis for scalable verification, bringing quantum computers closer to becoming tools for practical applications,” Google’s blog read.
The new technique functions like a highly advanced echo: a carefully crafted signal is sent into the quantum system (qubits on the Willow chip), one qubit is perturbed, and the signal’s evolution is precisely reversed to detect the returning “echo.” (ANI)
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