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yesterday

China's Jiuzhang 4.0 Completes Quantum Sampling in 25 Microseconds

Researchers say no classical computer can match its accuracy on the specialized Gaussian boson sampling task.

Picture shows part of a programmable quantum computing prototype called Jiuzhang 4.0.
Quantum physicist Pan Jianwei leads the University of Science and Technology of China team behind Jiuzhang 4.0, the country’s latest photonic quantum computer. Photo: Soho
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China unveils jiuzhang 4.0: the photonic quantum computer defying the laws of speed

Overview

  • The USTC team led by Pan Jianwei reported in Nature that Jiuzhang 4.0 finished a Gaussian boson sampling run in 25 microseconds, compared with their estimate of 10^42 years for the El Capitan supercomputer.
  • Gaussian boson sampling is a benchmark that draws patterns from many photons and is designed to be extremely hard for classical machines.
  • The photonic device routes squeezed light through an 8,176‑mode interferometer with 1,024 inputs and detects up to 3,050 photons, a scale jump of more than tenfold over earlier experiments.
  • The team reported about 92% source efficiency and 51% overall efficiency, which addresses photon loss that has long limited photonic quantum hardware.
  • USTC frames the result as quantum supremacy for this single task, while coverage notes it is not a fault‑tolerant, general‑purpose computer and contrasts China’s photonic path with US work on superconducting qubits.