Copyright infringement not intended

Picture Courtesy: INDIAN EXPRESS

Context:

Amazon has unveiled its first in-house quantum computing chip, Ocelot.

About Ocelot

Ocelot is a prototype quantum chip developed by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

It combines cat qubits (named after Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment) with traditional superconducting qubits (transmons) on a single microchip. 

• The cat qubits store information, while transmons monitor and correct errors.

The chip uses bosonic error correction, a method that encodes quantum information in a way that intrinsically suppresses bit-flip errors. 

• Amazon claims this approach reduces the resources needed for error correction by up to 90% compared to conventional methods.

Ocelot’s architecture is designed to be scalable using microelectronics industry processes, which make it easier to manufacture and integrate into larger systems.

Key Innovations

Cat Qubits are tiny hollow structures of tantalum containing microwave radiation. 

• They leverage quantum superposition to encode information, inherently resisting certain errors (e.g., bit flips) without requiring additional qubits for correction.
• Unlike traditional qubits, which need redundant physical qubits for error correction, cat qubits reduce overhead by increasing energy levels rather than qubit count.

Ocelot integrates quantum error correction components directly into the chip, which minimizes the number of physical qubits needed per logical qubit.  

AWS estimates that future Ocelot-based quantum chips could cost as little as one-fifth of current approaches, accelerating the timeline for practical quantum computing by up to five years.

Must Read Articles: 

Majorana 1: Microsoft Quantum Chip

Microsoft's Quantum Computing

Source: 

INDIAN EXPRESS