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<\/a><\/p>\nMeanwhile, in a lab on the other side of the world, New Zealand researchers and their European collaborators have made a breakthrough of their own. They\u2019ve been working on something called a Coherent Ising Machine (CIM). The mathematical model of Ising is used to study how individual pieces of a system influence each other. The problem it solves is basically: Given many interacting yes\/no choices, what combination gives the best overall outcome? This is known as optimisation.<\/p>\n
The Ising machine is sometimes referred to as a \u2018toy model\u2019, because it allows complex systems to be simplified into a form that is easier to analyse. It helps scientists understand a wide range of phenomena: from how materials become magnetic when their atomic spins align; to how diseases spread and even how opinions form within communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Quinn explains how it works.<\/p>\n
\u201cOptical pulses of light can be made to circulate in a closed loop. With engineered interactions between these light pulses, the system naturally settles into a preferred configuration or optimal solution. In this way we let the properties of quantum physics do the work for us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In quantum physics, particles behave like waves, and in most CIMs the system has to be stabilised to capture information. But using the Kiwis\u2019 ingenuity, the system\u2019s symmetry can be \u201clocked\u201d.<\/p>\n
The New Zealanders\u2019 optical Ising machine is based on what\u2019s called \u201cspontaneous polarization symmetry breaking in a coherently driven fibre Kerr nonlinear resonator\u201d.\u00a0 In their device, pulses of laser light will settle into a high or low intensity state, allowing them to be read with off-the-shelf telecom components.<\/p>\n
This platform, run over optical fibre, not only simplifies the hardware but also opens a path to more stable, high-throughput devices for applications from financial modelling to drug design. It can be used to solve extremely hard optimisation problems such as scheduling, traffic routing, protein folding and AI optimization.<\/p>\n
Ising machines already exist, but Quinn says his team\u2019s device is exceptionally stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of its special symmetry breaking properties, we think it has an advantage. It can also operate at room temperature, continuously for over an hour. \u201c<\/p>\n
The machine is very energy efficient because it uses the natural, continuous dynamics of optical pulses to explore an almost infinite number of possible solutions. It\u2019s also readily scalable. Such \u201cprobabilistic computing\u201d is more powerful than classical computing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gone from one pulse to 1000 pulses in a few short years. It will have its own niche, as a near-term solution. Indeed, it may be some time before powerful fault-tolerant quantum computers become widely available,\u201d Quinn says.<\/p>\n
The next step is coding and manipulation of the machine\u2019s chip to improve performance, strength and stability, keeping the Ising machine running over longer periods of time. Depending on progress, the machine could be operating by the end of the year. Currently funded (for the second time) by the Marsden fund, the project is also continuing under the auspices of the Dodd-Walls Centre\u2019s Quantum Technologies Aotearoa programme.<\/p>\n
Dr Quinn says he\u2019s eager to hear from businesses or organisations with problems they\u2019d like to solve. He cites pre-trial simulations for drug design as one likely candidate, helping developers to begin from a more refined compound than they might have otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
With so many applications and increasing demand for computing power, this advance could be a real opportunity for businesses wanting to interrogate large data pools. Given that the cost to lease an hour of computing time on early quantum processing units ranges from USD$2,500 \u2013 $7,000, the Ising machine is a promising alternative.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insider Brief New Zealand researchers have developed a hybrid optical \u201cCoherent Ising Machine\u201d that could provide a near-term…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[164062,61,60,1261,164063,80],"class_list":["post-363425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-dodd-walls-centre","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-new-zealand","tag-te-whai-ao","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}