Quantum computing may be getting closer to solving one of its biggest challenges. According to Atom Computing’s Kristen Pudenz, advances in scaling are making practical error correction possible, opening a path toward fault-tolerant systems and utility-scale quantum computing.
Pudenz, vice president of research programs at Atom Computing, has been tracking that shift for much of her career. She began her doctorate in 2008, when utility-scale quantum computing still felt like a distant possibility.
Today, she sees a clearer path forward. The reason, she says, comes back to two themes: scaling and error correction.
“They relate intimately to one another. The scaling that is happening allows error correction to begin to be implemented at a useful level,” Pudenz said in a recent interview with MeriTalk. “I think that’s a really exciting moment for quantum computing.”
“People should be taking quantum technology very seriously right now,” Pudenz said. “Now is when the rubber meets the road.”
Scaling makes error correction possible
Error correction has long been viewed as a prerequisite for practical quantum computing. Quantum systems are highly sensitive to noise and errors, making it difficult to run complex calculations reliably. Until recently, however, many quantum platforms lacked the scale necessary to implement error correction in a meaningful way.
That is beginning to change, according to Pudenz.
“What error correction gives to the quantum user community, why people should care about error correction, is that it means that the applications that you put on the quantum computer can go all the way,” Pudenz said. “They can go all the way to the promise of utility-scale quantum computing.”
The shift has significant implications for organizations already exploring quantum applications. Rather than developing algorithms that eventually run into hardware limitations, users can begin designing software with future fault-tolerant systems in mind.
Pudenz said that transition marks an important turning point for the industry.
“A lot of quantum systems right now are up against a wall in terms of the kinds of applications you can run on just bare qubits,” she said. “You have to make the shift to an error-corrected platform in order to be able to make progress going forward.”
Government is helping validate the roadmap
Atom Computing’s work comes as the company advances through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). The company also recently received a Commerce Department letter of intent for proposed CHIPS funding.
Pudenz said those federal signals matter because they help validate commercial quantum roadmaps and inform government understanding of the technology.
“DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative … is one of the reasons we feel extremely confident in our plan to deliver large-scale fault-tolerant neutral atom quantum computers,” she said, adding that Atom has worked with DARPA for many years.
“We have worked hand in hand with a DARPA proxy team that has been verifying our strategy to go to utility scale, and that’s been a very useful exercise,” Pudenz added.
With Commerce, Pudenz said Atom plans to advance work tied to its broader mission of building a useful large-scale quantum computer for government and commercial users.
She also praised the federal government’s broader approach to quantum. While the federal government oftentimes moves slowly, Pudenz applauded government for moving quickly on quantum.
“I think the government is doing extremely well right now,” she said.
“The government, in some senses, is in step with or even ahead of the curve, because of DARPA QBI,” Pudenz said. “The overall team, the cross-performer team at QBI consists of probably the best informed people in the world right now on the efforts going on at leading commercial quantum computing companies.”
Agencies should prepare now
For federal technology leaders, Pudenz said the next one to two years are important for quantum readiness.
That does not mean agencies need to wait for fully mature systems. Instead, she said they should begin building expertise, forming partnerships, and testing algorithms that can scale with the technology.
“If you want to be the people who are using the technology now, who continue to have the partnerships and the access to the technology into the future, when it becomes useful, those are all the benefits of being involved in the next one to two years,” Pudenz said.
She said early engagement can help agencies prepare their workforces and technical processes for a capability that could eventually reshape scientific and technology workflows.
“You can position yourself at the front of the pack,” Pudenz said. “You can be ready with your quantum algorithms. And you can test them now, and you can expand them later, and the soil will be fertile for that expansion.”
Flexibility could set platforms apart
Pudenz said Atom Computing makes very flexible systems, thanks to its use of neutral atoms.
“Because we move atoms around, it means that we can get any atom in our quantum computer to talk to any other atom in our quantum computer, as opposed to architectures that are fixed and live in the plane and only talk to their nearest neighbors,” Pudenz said. “What that gives is efficiency.”
“I think what’s being underestimated is the importance of flexibility in quantum computing platforms,” she stressed.
Pudenz said that advantage is one reason Atom’s error-correction work is important. The company recently demonstrated that practical quantum error correction can be achieved with its neutral-atom technology.
“This is something that’s enabled because we have a flexible architecture,” she said. “And when we extrapolate that into the future, and we look at the potential for systems down the line, we find that the efficiency granted by that flexibility in our computing platform makes implementations fast and flexible – and really ready for utility scale in a way that I think is going to make neutral atoms look even more attractive as we move forward in time.”
Looking ahead, she said flexibility and efficiency will matter as quantum systems grow.
“When we look at our utility-scale quantum computer, we’re not looking at something that takes acres and acres of land, and that gets supplied by its own power substation,” Pudenz said. “We’re looking at something that, compared to the classical computing installations that are being stood up right now, will appear very reasonable, even modest by comparison.”
For Pudenz, the future of quantum computing looks more concrete than it did when she entered the field.
“People can see it, and people can feel it, and taste it,” she said. “It’s so close.”
As systems scale and error correction improves, she expects the next few years to be significant for the field.
“I think everybody’s reaching for it, because they can see it too,” Pudenz said. “It’s coming. It’s real. The scaling is going to be really gratifying and really interesting the next few years.”