By Kate Yuan

(JW Insights) Oct 13 -- China’s latest quantum computer prototype Jiuzhang 3 has broken the world record for quantum computing, solidifying China's leading position in photonics quantum computing technology, announced the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in eastern China’s Anhui Province.

It achieved a speed that is one million times faster at solving Gaussian Boson Sampling problems compared with its predecessor, and 10 quadrillion times faster compared to the world's existing fastest supercomputers, according to an article published in Physical Review Letters on October 10.

Led by the renowned Chinese quantum physicist Pan Jianwei, a research team from USTC and a research institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences collaborated to build the prototype, with 255 detected photons, which improves the level of photon manipulation and the complexity of quantum computing, said a Yicai Global report.

"Quantum computers have theoretically super-fast parallel computing capabilities and are expected to provide stronger computational power than traditional computers in areas such as code-breaking, big data optimization, weather forecasting, material design, and drug analysis, through specific algorithms," said Pan.

The successful construction of Jiuzhang 3 means the quantum computer formulated by Richard Feynman, winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in physics, has been realized, USTC Professor Lu Chaoyang told Yicai Global.

Lu, who took part in the research behind the new machine, said it also offers a technical basis for research and development into quantum computers that can have more general applications.