Campbell McLauchlan

In October, following leaks, secrecy and scepticism, a short paper was finally released online by the journal Nature. In it, researchers at Google claimed to have achieved “quantum supremacy.” They stated they had performed a computation that would take 10,000 years to complete with the world’s best supercomputer, but which only took them a few minutes on a new type of device called a quantum computer. To achieve this, the team at Google had to imprint a tiny network of superconductors on a computer chip, cool it to thousandths of a degree above the lowest temperature physically possible, and manipulate every component of the device with minimal error in concert with the rest of the chip. This was no mean feat. In the Nature paper where this achievement is recorded, Google christened the device “Sycamore.” A Chat With a Quantum Superstar A few weeks ago, one of the heads of Google’s quantum research, John Martinis, was discussing ideas for Sycamore’s future with some of th