Requirements for Large-Scale Universal Quantum Computation is a four-week online course that looks at the requirements for realizing and operating larger-scale computers for longer periods of time in a fault-tolerant manner.
Learners will explore different modalities that can support building quantum computing from the currently available unreliable hardware, and understand the difficulties that arise with different techniques for error correction. You will be introduced to the foundations of complexity theory and quantum error-correction, and investigate and assess different points of view of quantum supremacy. The capstone project of this course is utilizing the IBM Quantum Computer to implement dynamical error suppression protocols on quantum bits.
This course is well suited for professionals and leaders in business, government, and technology that need to get an understanding of the business and technical implications of quantum computing. Given that quantum computing is in its earliest stages as an industry, any interested participant who would like to lead the quantum revolution within their field is encouraged to join this course to get a leading edge on this technology. (It is highly recommended that participants have a basic knowledge of vector and matrix multiplication as linear algebra is at the core of quantum computing algorithms. For more information about prerequisite knowledge, please visit this FAQ article.)
The coursework features video lectures, real-world case studies, interactive projects, practice activities with immediate feedback, as well as a self-reflection with peer-review. You will also will utilize the IBM Quantum Experience—a real quantum computer—to implement dynamical error suppression protocols on real qubits. A faculty-led webinar allows learners the opportunity to ask course-related questions and allows instructors to expand on the course content referencing examples from their own experience advancing quantum computing.
This course further prepares learners to understand the practical challenges of implementing quantum computing algorithms and quantum communication protocols on current and near-future real-world systems. Learners will become familiar with techniques to counteract the challenges of current quantum computing realities and anticipate the trajectory of applications of quantum computing.
In the first week of the course, learners will explore the concepts of classical and quantum error correction and be introduced to the concept of computational capacity. You will review several simple examples of quantum error correction codes.
In the second week, learners will study the principles of fault tolerance, and understand the threshold theorem. You will investigate how reliable classical computers can be built from unreliable components, and explore how to generalize this to implementations of quantum computing built from noisy qubits.
Please review the Course Schedule for more details!
The third week will focus on quantum error mitigation and quantum error correction in practice. You will learn about composite pulses and dynamical decoupling sequences, and explore the principles and challenges involved in implementing the surface code for these approaches in practice.
In the last week of this course, learners will be introduced to computational complexity for classical and quantum computers, and explore different approaches to envisioning the concept of quantum supremacy. You will build intuition with identifying and responding to quantum error correction by coding dynamical error suppression protocols on the IBM Quantum Experience computer. Please review the Course Schedule for more details.
Course participants will be equipped with an understanding of the challenges facing the transition of quantum computing from niche applications to large-scale implementations, and will gain understanding and practice implementing different strategies for counteracting error in quantum computation.