Plotting the inevitable rise of quantum computing

Whilst understandable, this inevitably shifts the focus towards the future promises of such technology, away from the actual process of how we get there, and the companies forging ahead with the practical developments necessary to reach these lofty goals.

One of the most pioneering companies in this space is Riverlane. Founded in Cambridge in 2016, Riverlane’s mission is to make quantum computing useful far sooner than previously imaginable.

Although much of the coverage around quantum computing developments centres on the increasing number of qubits maintained at global giants such as Google, Microsoft and IBM, many other developments will be necessary to achieve a useful quantum computer. Riverlane is working on one such development – Quantum Error Correction.

Founded in 2016 by Steve Brierley, a senior research fellow at Cambridge University, Riverlane is seeking to fast-track Quantum Error Correction technology to realise the promises of quantum computing.

QEC prevents runaway errors in the processing of a quantum computer due to quantum noise or decoherence, that, if left unchecked, causes the output of the quantum computer to deteriorate rapidly.

Whilst this may be controllable through design choice at small levels, as quantum computers increase in number of qubits, complexity, and power, a different approach will be needed to ensure that quantum computers can be maintained and operated in a reliable manner.

Having already developed scalable decoding processes to keep step with the inevitable errors coming out of current quantum computers (also known as the backlog problem), Riverlane is now developing a roadmap towards error correction to support a million-operation quantum computer.

The key in this development is a decoder to detect errors in the quantum computer which can balance the competing demands of speed, accuracy, and resource requirements of the computer.

This decoder continually feeds back corrections to the quantum computer to alter the state of the qubits as the processing continues. This enables the real-time correction of errors in quantum processing via parallelisation of data processing in the decoder, and the maintenance of a fundamentally unstable computer technology.

Quantum computing is regularly predicted to be nearing a cusp of rapid growth and transformation of numerous industries. From the simulation of new protein interactions in the body to determine potential drug discoveries to modelling material science developments or even performing encryption and decryption of data, there are a wealth of potential uses for quantum computing.

One further exciting prospect is that, as a new field of technology, there are sure to be potential uses that quantum computing is suited to that have not even been considered yet.

Riverlane’s approach to solving one of the hardest problems in quantum computing has caught the eye of experts in the field and the company recently raised $75 million in Series C funding. The aim of this funding is to fuel development through to the first goal of one million error-free quantum computer operations – predicted to be achieved in 2026.

Once there, quantum computers will begin to outperform classical computers in significant and more general tasks – and the sky really is the limit.