Europe’s first commercial quantum computer was unveiled – outside the lab – in Baden-Württemberg on Tuesday. Germany thus moves to

Technology – The first commercial quantum computer has arrived in Europe – what does that mean?

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2021-06-20 15:00:05

Europe’s first commercial quantum computer was unveiled – outside the lab – in Baden-Württemberg on Tuesday. Germany thus moves to the next stage in the race to find solutions in quantum computing applications. In the end, the point is that these special computers take on the tasks that today’s supercomputers fail. Here is some information about the technology of increasing importance.

Quantum computers and ordinary computers differ in structure, elements, and above all in performance. While classical computers work with qubits that can only assume two states, quantum computers use qubits, or “qubits” for short. You can think of qubits as spinning particles. They can be in different states at the same time, which makes it much faster. In addition, skills increase exponentially with the increase of qubits. “A quantum computer is particularly well suited to solving increasingly complex problems,” says IBM quantum expert Heike Riel.

There are different ways to generate qubits. Similar to Google and Rigetti, IBM relies on quantum processors based on superconductors. Their drawback is that they have to be cooled a lot. Other quantum computers rely on ion traps, where the challenge is that as many as possible must be fused together. Honeywell and US startup IonQ are working on it, for example. Another approach is quantum computers based on optical qubits, potentially operating at room temperature and also being developed in Germany.