New world. European researchers in turn demonstrate “the quantum advantage”

Last year, Google announced that it had reached the “quantum supremacy”. A few months ago, Chinese researchers also claimed to have carried out a similar experiment. On February 8, it was the turn of European scientists from the CNRS, the University of Edinburgh and the French-American company QC Ware Corp, to announce in the scientific journal Nature Communications, have demonstrated what is called “quantum advantage”.

franceinfo: What is quantum advantage?

Iordanis Kerenidis, CNRS researcher, director of the start-up QC Ware France : The idea is to show that quantum machines that already exist can do better than classical supercomputers to solve a problem. A quantum computer is not just a faster computer than a classical computer. It’s a computer that calculates in a completely different way.

Why is this technological advance important in the context of the international quantum competition?

This is the first time that an advantage has been shown like this. Europe is thus proving that it continues to be a world leader in quantum technologies.

What will the quantum revolution change?

Much has already changed with the first quantum revolution, such as lasers, GPS, etc. These are the results of the application of the theories of quantum mechanics. With quantum computers, we will also develop quantum communications. We hope to solve problems that are very difficult to solve today, for example related to climate, energy, artificial intelligence, biology and chemistry.