A blueprint for demonstrating quantum supremacy with superconducting qubits

TLDR

Demonstrating quantum supremacy—performing computations beyond classical capability—is essential for tackling complex physics and chemistry problems, and scaling to 50 qubits could address questions beyond classical reach. The study uses nine superconducting qubits to chart a promising route toward quantum supremacy. The authors tuned nine superconducting qubits to produce thousands of distinct Hamiltonian evolutions and measured the resulting output probabilities. Measured probabilities follow a universal distribution consistent with uniform Hilbert space sampling, and the system continues to explore exponentially many states as qubit count grows.

Abstract

A key step toward demonstrating a quantum system that can address difficult problems in physics and chemistry will be performing a computation beyond the capabilities of any classical computer, thus achieving so-called quantum supremacy. In this study, we used nine superconducting qubits to demonstrate a promising path toward quantum supremacy. By individually tuning the qubit parameters, we were able to generate thousands of distinct Hamiltonian evolutions and probe the output probabilities. The measured probabilities obey a universal distribution, consistent with uniformly sampling the full Hilbert space. As the number of qubits increases, the system continues to explore the exponentially growing number of states. Extending these results to a system of 50 qubits has the potential to address scientific questions that are beyond the capabilities of any classical computer.