Although quantum computers are about to become computing giants, there has been a continuous search for a workable issue that makes use of only quantum capabilities. According to researchers, this endeavour is essential to proving that quantum technology is indispensable.
Since classical computers are so good at many computing tasks, the hard part is figuring out which problems they can't handle, as California Institute of Technology theoretical physicist John Preskill pointed out.
An intriguing option was presented by Peter Shor in 1994: a quantum algorithm that could factor big numbers. Shor's algorithm is thought to be more powerful than all of its classical cousins. Its applicability is limited to a certain field, though, and there's still a chance that more advanced techniques will surpass Shor's algorithm and make it obsolete.
The scientific community is still searching for larger-scale quantum applications.
Physicist Soon-Won Choi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stated, "We don't want to build a computer just for a single task," emphasizing the necessity for multifunctional quantum machines that go beyond Shor's algorithm.
As Pre-Skill puts it, the trick is to identify classically hard issues and show how much more effective quantum methods can be.
Though some attempts were promising, there were cases where sophisticated classical algorithms—often developed by young researcher Ewin Tang—bested their quantum equivalents.
Preskill's team of physicists may have discovered the most compelling candidate for quantum advantage yet. By examining the energy of particular quantum systems, they were able to pinpoint an important and accurate question that quantum machines can readily respond to, but that is still difficult for their classical counterparts. This discovery, which presents quantum advantage in a problem relevant to chemistry and material sciences, was heralded as a major advance in quantum algorithm theory by IBM's theoretical physicist and computer scientist, Sergey Bravyi.