Amazon Web Services Inc. today unveiled its first quantum computing chip and said it represents the first generation of hardware that implements superior error correction, a barrier that has made scaling up the technology difficult.

Ocelot, as the new processor is called, reduces the costs of implementing quantum error correction by up to 90% compared with current approaches, the company said.

AWS used a specialized architecture the company built from the ground up using what it calls a “cat qubit.” Amazon researchers at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing originally proposed the approach in 2021 and recently published a paper in Nature describing the error correction technique, which is named after the famous Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment.

In a quantum computer, a qubit is a fundamental unit of information used for computation, equivalent to a bit used in classical computing representing a 1 or a 0 – but it can exist in multiple states at once. This allows quantum computers to perform calculations extremely quickly. The problem is that physical qubits are extremely fragile and can be affected by external interference such as electromagnetic radiation, heat and even tiny vibrations causing noise and errors.

Cat qubits work by storing the quantum states used for computation by using components called oscillators, which generate a repetitive electrical signal with steady timing. This signal is used to prevent a type of error that is difficult to correct in hardware called a phase-shift error. The chip’s high-quality oscillators are made of a thin film of superconducting material called tantalum.

“With the recent advancements in quantum research, it is no longer a matter of if, but when practical, fault-tolerant quantum computers will be available for real-world applications,“ said Oskar Painter, AWS director of quantum hardware. “Ocelot is an important step on that journey.”

Ocelot is a small-scale prototype AWS created as a testing ground for the effectiveness of the architecture’s approach. Amazon said it may take years of scaling up until the architecture is prepared for public release. For now, the company intends to continue to do research and use it as a foundation for further development.

“We’re just getting started and we believe we have several more stages of scaling to go through,” said Painter. “Right now, our task is to keep innovating across the quantum computing stack, to keep examining whether we’re using the right architecture, and to incorporate these learnings into our engineering efforts. It’s a flywheel of continuous improvement and scaling.”

Rob Schoelkopf, cofounder and chief scientist of Quantum Circuits Inc., told SiliconANGLE in an email that detecting and correcting errors in quantum computations is an important challenge to overcome in quantum computing. “AWS is showing compelling results in their scientific research that highlight how more efficient error correction is key to ensuring viable quantum computing,” he said. “This approach will support their new Ocelot chip, and it is a good step toward exploring and preparing for future roadmaps.”

The release of Ocelot comes shortly after Microsoft Corp. unveiled its quantum computing chip, the Majorana 1, an eight-qubit chip that it said is also a breakthrough for the industry. Released last week, Microsoft’s chip is powered by quasiparticles known as Majorana fermions that act as their own antiparticle to provide quantum states for calculations.

Quantum computing promises to assist with solving complex applications in the real world that are difficult for classical systems, such as providing faster drug discovery and development, assisting with the production of new materials, and making accurate predictions about investment strategies.

Photo: Amazon