Photonic Quantum Computer Reportedly Demonstrates Quantum Advantage

A team of physicists in China claimed it has demonstrated a “quantum advantage,” introducing a light-driven quantum computer capable of performing a computation that would take a classic supercomputer an estimated 600 million years to resolve. The team’s photonic quantum computer ultimately took several minutes to complete the boson sampling problem — a computation originally devised in 2011. The result follows Google’s announcement last year that its device dubbed Sycamore was the first to achieve a clear quantum advantage. Where chip-based superconducting circuits powered Sycamore, though, the Heifei, China-based team relied on photons delivered by a pump laser. To resolve the boson sampling...