Strong Quantum Computational Advantage Using a Superconducting Quantum Processor

Scaling up to a large number of qubits with high-precision control is essential in the demonstrations of quantum computational advantage to exponentially outpace the classical hardware and algorithmic improvements. Here, we develop a two-dimensional programmable superconducting quantum processor, Zuchongzhi, which is composed of 66 functional qubits in a tunable coupling architecture. To characterize the performance of the whole system, we perform random quantum circuits sampling for benchmarking, up to a system size of 56 qubits and 20 cycles. The computational cost of the classical simulation of this task is estimated to be 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than the previous work on 53-qubit Sycamore processor [Nature 574, 505 (2019). We estimate that the sampling task finished by Zuchongzhi in about 1.2 h will take the most powerful supercomputer at least 8 yr. Our work establishes an unambiguous quantum computational advantage that is infeasible for classical computation in a reasonable amount of time. The high-precision and programmable quantum computing platform opens a new door to explore novel many-body phenomena and implement complex quantum algorithms.

Automated summary

In this study, a two-dimensional programmable superconducting quantum processor named "Zuchongzhi" with 66 functional qubits was developed and used for random quantum circuits sampling to demonstrate quantum computational advantage. The high-precision and programmable quantum computing platform showed exponential outpacing of classical hardware and algorithmic improvements.