The UK has taken a quantum leap forward as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has acquired the government’s first quantum computer.
Stephen Till, from the department’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), described the acquisition as a “milestone moment”.
It was announced that the MoD would work with British company ORCA Computing to develop defence applications for the technology.
ORCA is a two-year-old start-up specialising in the development of quantum computers that aim to integrate with real-world technologies.
Quantum computing uses quantum mechanics to run calculations, with two-state units, qubits, able to run multiple processes at once.
This makes quantum-based computers potentially much more powerful than even the fastest traditional binary-based systems.
Calculations and problems that could take years for traditional computers to solve could be tackled by quantum computers in a matter of minutes.
Prof Winfried Hensinger, head of the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies at the University of Sussex, told the BBC that quantum computing had the potential to be disruptive in virtually every sector, with the possibility of a huge and important future role in defence.
Despite the undoubted potential, however, quantum computers cannot currently solve any practical problems.
Quantum computing still faces major challenges
One of the challenges is that current quantum models need to run at extremely low temperatures in order to remain stable.
ORCA is pioneering a new approach with a photonic or light-based model that will see the MoD computer running at room temperature.
The company said that its small PT-1 quantum computer is the first of its kind to be able to work in above-sub-zero conditions.
Richard Murray, co-founder and CEO of ORCA, said that light had a huge part to play in the future of turning quantum computing into an effective resource.
He said that the collaboration with the Ministry of Defence represented a “significant vote of confidence” in the technology.
Working with the MoD’s real-life hardware would allow both parties to discover new applications for the “revolutionary” technology, he added.
ORCA has also recently raised $15m (£12m) in funding from a syndicate of investors to help accelerate the rollout of its quantum computing systems.
Additionally, it was selected to lead a consortium including BP, BT, Airbus and a number of universities as part of an Innovate UK project aimed at developing ‘the quantum data centre of the future’.
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