■Nathan Shiga: November 20

The National Institute of Informatics, NTT, and Tokyo University have succeeded in developing Japan’s first quantum computer 100 faster than the conventional supercomputer – freely available on the internet.

The quantum computer is a new-generation computer based on a unique physical phenomenon in the realm of the extremely minute substance called quantum. Whereas the conventional computer computes via 0 and 1, the quantum computer applies a peculiar phenomenon called superposition wherein light particles can be 0 and 1 simultaneously.

The team succeeded in feeding up to 2000 light particles to trace the most appropriate of combinations as many as 10 to the power 600 – more than the observable number of atoms existent in space.

The researchers say the quantum computer should, for instance, help suggest a trouble-free wireless LAN to link to the nearby base station catering for all the smartphones ringing at once in the main stadium of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It could also help locate substance(s) out of an enormous number of chemical compounds to control disease-inducing proteins – eventually toward developing revolutionary medicine, they say.

Honorary Professor Yoshihisa Yamamoto of Stanford University, the program manager, comments:

“The quantum computer we are introducing this time is the most efficient model the world has ever known.

“We are making it freely available worldwide to detect points of improvement and broaden its utility. That should help pave ways for Japan to make this cutting-edge technology her specialty.”

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