IBM Has Used Its Quantum Computer to Simulate a Molecule—Here’s Why That’s Big News

MIT Technology Review

We just got a little closer to building a computer that can disrupt a large chunk of the chemistry world, and many other fields besides.


IBM Has Used Its Quantum Computer to Simulate a Molecule—Here’s Why That’s Big News
We just got a little closer to building a computer that can disrupt a large chunk of the chemistry world, and many other fields besides.
TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM



...The promise of quantum computing is to vastly simplify that process by exactly predicting the structure of a new molecule, and how it will interact with other compounds. In work published today in Nature (paywall)—and also avilable on the Arxiv (PDF)—the IBM team have shown that they can use a new algorithm to calculate the ground state of BeH2 on their seven-qubit chip.

In some ways, it's a small advance. But it's an important step on the path of ever-greater complexity in molecular simulation using quantum computers that will ultimately lead to comercially important breakthroughs.