MilestoneQuantum advantageDisputed
Xanadu claims quantum advantage with Borealis, a programmable photonic machine
Jun 1, 2022
Canadian company Xanadu reports in Nature that Borealis, which sends light pulses through loops of optical fibre, ran Gaussian boson sampling on 216 modes. It estimates the best classical methods would need over 9,000 years for one sample that Borealis makes in 36 microseconds.
Why it matters
Unlike earlier light-based experiments, Borealis was programmable and open to outside users over the cloud, though its advantage claim, like Jiuzhang's, was later challenged by classical algorithms.
A 2024 Nature Physics paper (Oh et al.) reports a classical algorithm that simulates the largest boson sampling experiments better than the hardware does on the benchmarks used as evidence, calling the advantage claims into question.
Related
Sources (3)
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Nature
Quantum computational advantage with a programmable photonic processor
“On average, it would take more than 9,000 years for the best available algorithms and supercomputers to produce, using exact methods, a single sample from the programmed distribution, whereas Borealis requires only 36 μs.”
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Physics World
Xanadu puts quantum advantage in the cloud
“Researchers at Xanadu, a Canadian company specializing in photonic quantum computing, claim to have achieved quantum computational advantage with an experiment run on their cloud-accessible Borealis machine.”
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Nature Physics
Classical algorithm for simulating experimental Gaussian boson sampling
“Our algorithm enables us to simulate the largest-scale Gaussian boson sampling experiment so far using relatively modest computational resources. We exhibit evidence that our classical sampler can simulate the ideal distribution better than the experiment can, which calls into question the claims of experimental quantum advantage.”
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