King's College team wins access to cutting-edge Google quantum chip

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: King's College team wins access to cutting-edge Google quantum chip48 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleChris VallanceSenior technology reporterGoogleGoogle's Willow chipScientists from King's College London have become the first UK academic research team to gain access to Google's cutting-edge quantum computer chip Willow as part of a scheme launched with the UK's national quantum lab last year. Quantum computers can in theory solve problems which the most powerful conventional computers cannot. Google says Willow can solve a theoretical problem in five minutes which would take the world's current fastest super computers 10 septillion - or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - years to complete.

King's lead for the project Dr Eleanor Crane said its use of Willow would "light a torch" for research to answer questions about the most important natural processes. "It would be useful if society could understand how plants transform sunlight into energy, find materials which transport electricity quickly, or how molecules bind to each other," said Crane, who will co-lead the research team alongside Dr Alexander Schuckert from ENS Paris. These natural processes rely on the interactions between many fundamental particles which made up the building blocks of life.

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But some questions are really hard to answer with the computers or even supercomputers we currently use. "If we could get to grips with these processes, then we could use this understanding to create better solar cells, more efficient energy grid systems, and discover drugs for previously untreatable diseases," she said. Explained: How quantum computers workThe science which explains the way in which physical particles behave is called quantum mechanics and it's the basis on which quantum computers work - making them much better placed to solve these problems.

While much of this field is still theoretical, Google says Willow incorporates key "breakthroughs" and "paves the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer". Crane said in the UK, Europe, the US, China, and elsewhere, there have been "huge developments" in this direction. "Quantum computers are being built.

They are quickly progressing towards useful tasks for society," she said. The Kings team will carry out research on Willow designed to help develop techniques that will be needed to enable a quantum computer to model natural systems - such as photosynthesis - and answer questions about them. King's College LondonDr Eleanor Crane (left) with the King's College research teamGoogle Quantum AI and the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC), Britain's national quantum computing laboratory, invited proposals from UK research teams to use Willow last year.

Kings had "made a compelling research proposal," according to Charina Chou, chief operating officer of Google Quantum. NQCC Director Dr Michael Cuthbert said the initiative reflected the UK's commitment to fostering world-class quantum research.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.