krystall

Rigetti and Oxford Instruments NanoScience unveil 32-qubit quantum computer system, say more to come California-based quantum circuitry company Rigetti has brought a commercially available quantum computer to the UK. Only the second in the country, it was installed in collaboration with Oxford Instruments NanoScience — a cryogenics company that provides the cooling needed for superconducting qubits.  The system, supported by grants from the UK government, is Rigetti’s first UK-based quantum computer and will be accessible via the company’s cloud computing services.  When it comes to quantum computing, you need the actual circuitry hardware that hosts the qubits, advanced cryogenics systems, software to run error-correcting quantum algorithms, and specialised programming languages. And the means to put it all together.  To that end, other participants in the £10mn program were the Quantum Software Lab at the University of Edinburgh, quantum algorithm startup Phasecraft, and Standard Chartered Bank. The project also received funding from the UK government’s Quantum Technologies Challenge, led by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI). The 32-qubit system is housed at Oxford Instruments’ Tubney Woods facility in Oxfordshire and is what Rigetti calls its “Aspen-class” quantum computer. The system that keeps qubits from interacting with one another when they shouldn’t (one of the main sources of errors in quantum computing calculations) in this class of Rigetti computers limits the computing power and speed of the system. However, the company says that its fourth-generation “Ankaa-1” chip architecture is three times faster than the Aspen. It intends to deploy a 24-qubit Ankaa-1 quantum computer at the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre’s  (NQCC) Harwell campus.  “The project was planned from the beginning to align with national strategic initiatives and is a fantastic step towards the commercial adoption of quantum computing in the UK,” said Matt Martin, managing director at Oxford Instruments NanoScience.  Establishing quantum-ready businesses through the cloud That a government innovation body is supporting a quantum computing project is perhaps no great surprise. But why would a bank contribute money to the project? In order to future-proof its business, as it turns out. “Establishing ourselves as a quantum-ready financial institution is becoming more important as quantum computers scale, and our problems become more complex. An important result of this work is addressing the feasibility of quantum machine learning methods to more effectively process, interpret, and make decisions with complex data streams,” said Elena Strbac, managing director and global head of data science and innovation at Standard Chartered Bank. Indeed, one of the first sectors anticipated to reap the benefits of quantum computing is financial services. This is because of its potential implications for security and encryption, portfolio management, and risk modelling for insurance purposes. While we wait for quantum computers to emerge from the NISQ-era of low-utility machines, “quantum-ready” is surely a phrase we will start hearing more and more. As quantum hardware manufacturers figure out how to scale physical qubits, and software developers how to write the best error-correction codes, researchers and businesses are training on smaller systems to learn how to best prepare for the seemingly infinite potential of the larger fault-tolerant systems of the future. With quantum systems connected to the cloud, they don’t even need quantum capabilities of their own. They just need to pay for an interface. In the words of Roger McKinlay, challenge director for quantum technologies at Innovate UK, the vision for the program was to make the UK “the go-to place for those striving to turn quantum research into quantum business.” Oxford University spinouts leading the UK quantum charge As of March 19, 2024, the only other commercially available quantum computer in the UK comes from Oxford University spinout Oxford Quantum Circuits, which also offers access via the cloud to its 32-qubit system. Oxford Instruments NanoScience was founded in 1959, and was the first commercial spinout from Oxford University. Rigetti is one of the most well-funded quantum computing startups globally, and went public in 2021. It has been operating quantum computers on the cloud since 2017. 

Bougainvillea plants are easy to grow but still need proper care and nutrition for them to bloom profusely. Bougainvillea is a plant that can bloom all year round. Although this plant is easy to grow and does not require much care, if you only water the plant with plain water, the flowers will certainly not be beautiful. There are many reasons why bougainvillea plants do not bloom but only have leaves. One may be due to limited growing space (this often happens with bougainvillea plants grown in pots). The second reason is that the tree lacks sunlight. Bougainvillea is a sun-loving plant. When planted in places with enough light, new plants can grow strongly and produce many flowers. In the first case, you should repot the plant in a new, larger pot. In the second case, the plant should be moved to a location with more light. If you have done both of the above and the plant still does not produce many flowers, you can add some nutrients to stimulate the plant to grow, differentiate and produce more flowers.   When properly cared for, bougainvillea can flower all year round. Use beer Beer is not only a drink but can also be used as a fertilizer for plants, especially flowering ornamental plants such as bougainvillea. You can take advantage of leftover and expired beer to water bougainvillea plants. This type of irrigation water will help plants grow well, produce more flowers and last longer. Beer contains sugar, starch, and many other substances that help nourish plants. However, you need to note that beer contains alcohol, so you need to dilute the beer with clean water before watering, the ratio is 1 beer: 30 water. Beer soaks into the soil and provides nutrients to the plants, helping them grow better every day. Every 20 days, water the plants with beer once. Sugar and yeast in beer also contribute to nourishing beneficial bacteria in the soil, making the soil more porous and fertile. You can use beer to water bougainvillea, roses, petunias... Note, only water the beer at the base of the tree, do not water the leaves. Use vinegar Vinegar is not only an important spice in many dishes but it also has many other uses. You can use vinegar to water plants. Vinegar helps increase soil acidity, provides a certain amount of iron for plants to grow, stimulates flowering, and keeps leaves always green. You need to dilute vinegar with clean water before watering the plant. 150ml of vinegar should be diluted with 4 liters of clean water and watered into the soil. You can water the plants with vinegar twice a week. In addition to watering bougainvillea plants with beer and vinegar water, to help them bloom, you need to pay attention to the following things: - Fertilize the plant: Proper nutritional supplementation will help the bougainvillea plant stay healthy and produce many flowers. You can use phosphate, potassium, chicken manure, earthworm compost... to fertilize plants. - Prune trees neatly: Trees need to be pruned periodically to keep them neat. Cutting back weak, diseased branches and branches that reach too high will help limit the tree's nutrient consumption, helping the tree focus on growing strong branches and stimulating flowering. After a flowering period, you also need to prune the spent flowers to prepare for the next flowering period.