Russia`s First Conference on Superconducting Quantum Processors

From July 30th to August 3rd, 2018, Russia`s first international conference devoted to quantum superconducting processors, which are vital for quantum computers—"superweapons" in the world of information technology—was held in Moscow.

Leading scientists from universities and research institutes from Russia, The U.S., Germany, Japan, Canada, and other countries, as well as representatives from leading companies in the field of quantum technologies such as IBM and took part in the conference, which NUST MISIS organized jointly with MIPT and the Russian Quantum Center.

Traditional computing technologies may face limits on their growth in the coming years, and it will not be possible to continue the miniaturization of semiconductor elements. The creation of quantum computing devices, which are based on the use of quantum physics’ effects and are able to solve tasks that are beyond the capabilities of even the most powerful classical supercomputers, can overcome this obstacle. Qubits are used as elements of quantum computing machines — particles, protons or superconducting devices that are in a state of quantum superposition—or in a set of states simultaneously. Thanks to this property, quantum computers can solve a large number of problems in one cycle, which provides an acceleration of calculations.

“The photons, ions, and cold atoms can be used to create qubits, but today the superconducting quantum circuits remain the leading technological platforms on which advanced quantum devices are created”, — said Alexey Ustinov, Professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and head of the labs at NUST MISIS and RQC.

Qubits based on Josephson`s superconducting contacts — elements consisting of two layers of a superconductor separated by a thin layer of oxide — are a kind of artificial atom able to be in a state of quantum superposition. Google, IBM, Intel, and D-Wave all have created quantum devices based on qubits.

The Russian research team, consisting of scientists from the All-Russian Research Institute of Automatics named after N.L. Dukhov, NUST MISIS, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, MIPT, Novosibirsk State Technical University, RQC and the Institute of Solid State Physics (Russian Academy of Sciences) is successfully developing quantum circuits based on superconducting qubits. These developments are not only useful for quantum computing devices and simulators, but also for specialized devices for optimized, highly-sensitive sensors.

“Our Russian project is successfully being developed, and we have something to discuss with the world leaders in this field. We hope that the conference on superconducting quantum networks will give an important impetus to the development of quantum technologies and cooperation in this field”, — noted Oleg Astafyev, Professor at the University of London and head of the MIPT Laboratory of Artificial Quantum Systems.

39 scientists from 14 countries delivered speeches during the conference. Leading specialists in the field of superconducting quantum technologies from around the world were able to exchange ideas.

Additionally, on July 30th, 2018, an open lecture on “The implementation of quantum algorithms on the IBM quantum computer: from numerical simulation of spin dynamics to quantum machine learning”, was delivered by Walter Pogosov, head of the Micro- & Nanostructure Laboratory at the All-Russian Research Institute of Automatics named after N.L. Dukhov (VNIIA) as part of the conference.

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