Quantum Computing: An Overview Across the System Stack

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of quantum computing across the system stack, highlighting recent advancements, ongoing challenges, and the competitive landscape of technologies aiming for scalable quantum computers.

Contribution

It offers a broad synthesis of current research, technologies, and challenges in quantum computing, emphasizing the multi-layered system stack approach.

Findings

Small-to-medium quantum machines are already built.

Full-scale quantum computers are still out of reach.

Multiple competing technologies aim for scalability.

Abstract

Quantum computers, if fully realized, promise to be a revolutionary technology. As a result, quantum computing has become one of the hottest areas of research in the last few years. Much effort is being applied at all levels of the system stack, from the creation of quantum algorithms to the development of hardware devices. The quantum age appears to be arriving sooner rather than later as commercially useful small-to-medium sized machines have already been built. However, full-scale quantum computers, and the full-scale algorithms they would perform, remain out of reach for now. It is currently uncertain how the first such computer will be built. Many different technologies are competing to be the first scalable quantum computer.