Hundreds of Quantum Applications

Employing D-Wave's annealing quantum computing solutions as accelerators in the speed and quality of training our generative AI-driven, drug discovery (DD) analysis systems, we constructed a hybrid quantum and classical computer system, aiming to extend the applicable range of molecular-generation AI systems in the DD field (i.e., AI-driven Drug Design). The goal of our project is to pioneer a new process for discovering 'first-in-class' pharmaceutical small compounds, which is performed with supports by D-Wave's team of professional services experts. In my talk, we report substantial aspects of our projects, based on the above-mentioned strategy and present progress.

Maintaining steady connections on a mobile network entails a lot of behind-the-scenes effort. Work done by Japanese telecommunications company NTT DOCOMO demonstrated that quantum computing can help mitigate potential performance issues on mobile networks during periods of heavy use. This is now an in-production application for NTT DOCOMO.

Supreeth Mysore Venkatesh, Antonio Macaluso, Marlon Nuske, Matthias Klusch, Andreas Dengel 

Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche

https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.06007

The increasing number of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, driven by lower manufacturing and launch costs, is proving invaluable for Earth observation missions and low-latency internet connectivity. However, as the number of satellites increases, the number of communication links to maintain also rises, making the management of this vast network increasingly challenging and highlighting the need for clustering satellites into efficient groups as a promising solution. This paper formulates the clustering of LEO satellites as a coalition structure generation (CSG) problem and leverages quantum annealing to solve it. We represent the satellite network as a graph and obtain the optimal partitions using a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm called GCS-Q. The algorithm follows a top-down approach by iteratively splitting the graph at each step using a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) formulation. To evaluate our approach, we utilize real-world three-line element set (TLE/3LE) data for Starlink satellites from Celestrak. Our experiments, conducted using the D-Wave Advantage annealer and the state-of-the-art solver Gurobi, demonstrate that the quantum annealer significantly outperforms classical methods in terms of runtime while maintaining the solution quality. The performance achieved with quantum annealers surpasses the capabilities of classical computers, highlighting the transformative potential of quantum computing in optimizing the management of large-scale satellite networks.

Abhishek Awasthi∗, Nico Kraus†, Florian Krellner‡, David Zambrano†

*BASF Digital Solutions GmbH, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany

†Aqarios GmbH, Munich, Germany

‡SAP SE, Walldorf, Germany

This work is a benchmark study for quantum- classical computing method with a real-world optimization problem from industry. The problem involves scheduling and balancing jobs on different machines, with a non-linear objective function. We first present the motivation and the problem description, along with different modeling techniques for classical and quantum computing. The modeling for classical solvers has been done as a mixed-integer convex program, while for the quantum-classical solver we model the problem as a binary quadratic program, which is best suited to the D-Wave Leap’s Hybrid Solver. This ensures that all the solvers we use are fetched with dedicated and most suitable model(s). Henceforth, we carry out benchmarking and comparisons between classical and quantum-classical methods, on problem sizes ranging till approximately 150, 000 variables. We utilize an industry grade classical solver and compare its results with D-Wave Leap’s Hybrid Solver. The results we obtain from D-Wave are highly competitive and sometimes offer speedups, compared to the classical solver.

Supply Chain/ Logistics SavantX with videoQuantum Computing has shown how it can make a difference in optimizing logistics. SavantX developed the HONE (Hyper Optimized Nodal Efficiency) Engine, which uses proprietary data science and quantum computing to present real-time optimized solutions for use at the second largest container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, Pier 300. SavantX leverages the D-Wave quantum computer repeatedly in transportation applications in real-time. Hear about lessons learned in applying quantum solutions to a real-world application and how quantum compares to the classical approach.

The future is quantum – this is precisely why NEC and CSIRO provided a breakdown of the importance of quantum. In this talk, NEC reveals its plans to drive higher sustained performance using D-Wave’s quantum technologies and how CSIRO is making leaps for solving material microstructure modeling with D-Wave Leap™.

Noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware is almost universally incompatible with full-scale optimization problems of practical importance which can have many variables and unwieldy objective functions. As a consequence, there is a growing body of literature that tests quantum algorithms on miniaturized versions of problems that arise in an operations research setting. Rather than taking this approach, we investigate a problem of substantial commercial value, multi-truck vehicle routing for supply chain logistics, at the scale used by a corporation in their operations. Such a problem is too complex to be fully embedded on any near-term quantum hardware or simulator; we avoid confronting this challenge by taking a hybrid workflow approach: we iteratively assign routes for trucks by generating a new binary optimization problem instance one truck at a time. Each instance has ∼2500 quadratic binary variables, putting it in a range that is feasible for NISQ quantum computing, especially quantum annealing hardware. We test our methods using simulated annealing and the D-Wave Hybrid solver as a place-holder in wait of quantum hardware developments. After feeding the vehicle routes suggested by these runs into a highly realistic classical supply chain simulation, we find excellent performance for the full supply chain. Our work gives a set of techniques that can be adopted in contexts beyond vehicle routing to apply NISQ devices in a hybrid fashion to large-scale problems of commercial interest.

Optimizing package loading within trucks for manufacturers and distributors can result in cost and time savings. In this talk, Senior Manager Nitish Umang discusses his joint work with D-Wave and show a demo for the 3D cuboid loading problem. This is a good candidate for quantum optimization due to the combinatorial nature of the problem.

Quantum annealing is a promising approach for obtaining good approximate solutions to difficult optimization problems. Folding a protein sequence into its minimum-energy structure represents such a problem. For testing new algorithms and technologies for this task, the minimal lattice-based HP model is well suited, as it represents a considerable challenge despite its simplicity. The HP model has favorable interactions between adjacent, not directly bound hydrophobic residues. Here, we develop a novel spin representation for lattice protein folding tailored for quantum annealing. With a distributed encoding onto the lattice, it differs from earlier attempts to fold lattice proteins on quantum annealers, which were based upon chain growth techniques. With our encoding, the Hamiltonian by design has the quadratic structure required for calculations on an Ising-type annealer, without having to introduce any auxiliary spin variables. This property greatly facilitates the study of long chains. The approach is robust to changes in the parameters required to constrain the spin system to chain-like configurations, and performs very well in terms of solution quality. The results are evaluated against existing exact results for HP chains with up to N=30 beads with 100% hit rate, thereby also outperforming classical simulated annealing. In addition, the method allows us to recover the lowest known energies for N=48 and N=64 HP chains, with similar hit rates. These results are obtained by the commonly used hybrid quantum-classical approach. For pure quantum annealing, our method successfully folds an N=14 HP chain. The calculations were performed on a D-Wave Advantage quantum annealer.

Computed tomography (CT) is an important imaging technique used in medical analysis of the internal structure of the human body. Previously, image segmentation methods were required after acquiring reconstructed CT images to obtain segmented CT images which made it susceptible to errors from both reconstruction and segmentation algorithms. However, this paper introduces a new approach using an advanced quantum optimization algorithm called quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO). This algorithm enables acquisition of segmented CT images from X-ray projection data with minimized discrepancies between experimentally obtained sinograms and quantized sinograms derived from quantized segmented CT images using the Radon transform. This study utilized D-Wave's hybrid solver system for verification on real-world X-ray data.

In this paper an application of D-Wave Systems quantum annealer for optimizing initial line-up of a soccer team is presented. Players and their playing position are selected to maximize the sum of players ratings for both a 4-3-3 attack formation and a 4-2-3-1 medium defensive formation. The problem is stated as a binary quadratic model (BQM) and it is solved in a D-Wave Leap Hybrid Solver. Results are presented and compared with already published results obtained with a classical solver.

Some business problems are better suited for quantum/hybrid technology than others. Watch this recording to find out how to identify and assess use cases and applications that would benefit from the use of quantum/hybrid resources.

Machine learning experts no longer need to be experts in optimization or hybrid solving in order to get the benefits of both. D-Wave's feature selection / machine learning tools enable access to the power of quantum hybrid to supercharge feature selection/ML workflows, and includes a plugin for scikit-learn.

Demand Side Response (DSR) is a strategy that enables consumers to actively participate in managing electricity demand. It aims to alleviate strain on the grid during high demand and promote a more balanced and efficient use of electricity resources. We implement DSR through discount scheduling, which involves offering discrete price incentives to consumers to adjust their electricity consumption patterns. Since we tailor the discounts to individual customers' consumption, the Discount Scheduling Problem (DSP) becomes a large combinatorial optimization task. Consequently, we adopt a hybrid quantum computing approach, using D-Wave's Leap Hybrid Cloud. We observe an indication that Leap performs better compared to Gurobi, a classical general-purpose optimizer, in our test setup. Furthermore, we propose a specialized decomposition algorithm for the DSP that significantly reduces the problem size, while maintaining an exceptional solution quality. We use a mix of synthetic data, generated based on real-world data, and real data to benchmark the performance of the different approaches.

Drug discovery is a high-risk, high-reward field, where a blockbuster therapy can deliver life-changing clinical benefits to millions of patients and generate billions of dollars in profit—but more than 90% of new drug development efforts ultimately prove fruitless. PolarisQB is using quantum computing with AI and precision medicine to search chemical space and create novel molecular drugs for specific proteins and diseases much more quickly than using traditional methods. In order to find a new preclinical lead candidate, the first step is to build a library of small molecules that may interact with the target protein binding pocket. Traditionally, library design involves wet lab testing that takes years, costs millions, and is limited to a narrow chemical space. With the power of D-Wave’s quantum technology, PolarisQB finds optimized molecules in days from a highly diverse library of 10^30 possibilities. This size of the library is 20 orders of magnitude bigger than the current industry standard.

Having the ability to efficiently detect the location where a leak occurs in a network is high on the bucket-list of any water distribution company worldwide. The determination of “how many” pressure-sensors to put “where” in the network is known to be an NP-hard problem. delaware in Belgium joined forces with De Watergroep (Belgium) and KWR (The Netherlands) and developed a tractable approach to determine “how many” and “where”. The QUBO-formulation of this problem allows for a fast determination of the optimal number and location of pressure-sensors via D-Wave’s quantum solver, which now becomes feasible in days instead of centuries. This webinar explains the steps taken and the outcome reached.

The Port of Los Angeles is known as America's busiest port. In a time where we are facing global supply chain challenges, it's essential that the Port operates to its maximum capacity with the highest level of efficiency possible. In conjunction with Fenix Marine Services, SavantX developed and deployed new technology using AI and D-Wave’s quantum computer to optimize terminal operations. The results of their work doubled cargo handling equipment productivity and produced more predictable cargo flows. Watch this webinar to learn more.

Pattison Food Group has over 100 stores that offer e-commerce delivery. 3-4 people are dedicated to manually creating driver schedules each week. Pattison worked with D-Wave to create these schedules automatically, taking scheduling rules (seniority, preferences/history, and policies) into account. As a result, weekly manual efforts for initial scheduling creation was reduced by ~80%​.

Recently, the demand for the optimization of TV commercials (CMs) has been increasing. Specifically, it is important to determine the assignment of TVCMs so that each viewer watches the TVCMs with specific number of times. This problem is known as frequency control. By controlling the frequency of multiple TVCMs for each viewer, the message of TVCMs can be conveyed to the viewers in the intended way. In our project, we considered the problem to maximize the KPI which is the number of viewers who watch all kinds of TVCMs more than once. We solved the optimization problem and broadcasted the TVCMs based on the result of the optimization. We also compared the increase in the business KPI calculated using the actual viewing data for 3 different methods, CPLEX, D-Wave CQM, and an existing manual method. As a result, D-Wave CQM increased the KPI by 92% compared to an existing manual method, and it also outperformed CPLEX by 4%, which is a significant impact on our business. 

Annealing is a heuristic for solving optimization problems that have seen a recent surge in usage owing to the success of D-Wave Systems. This paper aims to find a good heuristic for solving the Electric Vehicle Charger Placement (EVCP) problem, a problem that stands to be very important given the costs of setting up an electric vehicle (EV) charger and the expected surge in electric vehicles across the world. The same problem statement can also be generalized to the optimal placement of any entity in a grid and can be explored for further uses. Finally, the authors introduce a novel heuristic combining Quantum Annealing and Genetic Algorithms to solve the problem. The proposed hybrid approach entails seeding the genetic algorithms with the results of quantum annealing. Experimental results show that this method decreases the minimum distance from Points of Interest (POI) by 42.89% compared to vanilla quantum annealing over the sample EVCP datasets.

Transportation has lifted to a new meaning via the sky. In this talk, Sumitomo and Seino Holdings demonstrate how they partnered with Aeronext to create SkyHub, a transportation service using quantum annealing to optimize drone and truck delivery to depopulated areas.

Towards the realization of efficient transport systems, DENSO develops a method of route optimization by using D-Wave hybrid solvers. The first system is optimizing on-demand taxies and efficiency of sharing taxi with customers will be presented. The second system is collaborated with Toyota Tsusho Corperation for delivery logistics and practical advantage compared with conventional system will be presented.

A strategy for the analysis of active debris removal missions targeting multiple objects from a set of objects in near-circular orbit with similar inclination is presented. Algebraic techniques successfully reduce the orbital mechanics regarding specific inter-debris transfer and disposal methods to simple computations, which can be used as the coefficients of a quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation (QUBO) problem formulation which minimises the total propellant used in the mission whilst allowing for servicing time and meeting the mission deadline. The QUBO is validated by solving artificial small problems (from 2 to 11 debris) using classical computational methods and the weaknesses in using these methods are examined prior to solution using quantum annealing hardware. The quantum processing unit (QPU) and quantum-classical hybrid solvers provided by D-Wave are then used to solve the same small problems, with attention paid to evident strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Hybrid solvers are found to be significantly more effective at solving larger problems. Finally, the hybrid method is used to solve a large problem using a real dataset. From a set of 79 debris objects resulting from the destruction of the Kosmos-1408 satellite, an active debris removal mission starting on 30 September 2023 targeting 5 debris objects for disposal within a year with 20 days servicing time per object is successfully planned. This plan calculates the total propellant cost of transfer and disposal to be 0.87km/s and would be complete well within the deadline at 241 days from the start date. This problem uses 6,478 binary variables in total and is solved using around 25s of QPU access time.

This paper proposes a quantum computing-based algorithm to solve the single image super-resolution (SISR) problem. One of the well-known classical approaches for SISR relies on the well-established patch-wise sparse modeling of the problem. Yet, this field's current state of affairs is that deep neural networks (DNNs) have demonstrated far superior results than traditional approaches. Nevertheless, quantum computing is expected to become increasingly prominent for machine learning problems soon. As a result, in this work, we take the privilege to perform an early exploration of applying a quantum computing algorithm to this important image enhancement problem, i.e., SISR. Among the two paradigms of quantum computing, namely universal gate quantum computing and adiabatic quantum computing (AQC), the latter has been successfully applied to practical computer vision problems, in which quantum parallelism has been exploited to solve combinatorial optimization efficiently. This work demonstrates formulating quantum SISR as a sparse coding optimization problem, which is solved using quantum annealers accessed via the D-Wave Leap platform. The proposed AQC-based algorithm is demonstrated to achieve improved speed-up over a classical analog while maintaining comparable SISR accuracy.

Dixit, V.V., Niu, C. Quantum computing for transport network design problems. Sci Rep13, 12267 (2023).

Transport network design problem (TNDP) is a well-studied problem for planning and operations of transportation systems. They are widely used to determine links for capacity enhancement, link closures to schedule maintenance, identify new road or transit links and more generally network enhancements under resource constraints. As changes in network capacities result in a redistribution of demand on the network, resulting in changes in the congestion patterns, TNDP is generally modelled as a bi-level problem, which is known to be NP-hard. Meta-heuristic methods, such as Tabu Search Method are relied upon to solve these problems, which have been demonstrated to achieve near optimality in reasonable time. The advent of quantum computing has afforded an opportunity to solve these problems faster. We formulate the TNDP problem as a bi-level problem, with the upper level formulated as a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) problem that is solved using quantum annealing on a D-Wave quantum computer. We compare the results with Tabu Search. We find that quantum annealing provides significant computational benefit. The proposed solution has implications for networks across different contexts including communications, traffic, industrial operations, electricity, water, broader supply chains and epidemiology.

Satellite image acquisition scheduling is a problem that is omnipresent in the earth observation field; its goal is to find the optimal subset of images to be taken during a given orbit pass under a set of constraints. This problem, which can be modeled via combinatorial optimization, has been dealt with many times by the artificial intelligence and operations research communities. However, despite its inherent interest, it has been scarcely studied through the quantum computing paradigm. Taking this situation as motivation, we present in this paper two QUBO formulations for the problem, using different approaches to handle the non-trivial constraints. We compare the formulations experimentally over 20 problem instances using three quantum annealers currently available from D-Wave, as well as one of its hybrid solvers. Fourteen of the tested instances have been obtained from the well-known SPOT5 benchmark, while the remaining six have been generated ad-hoc for this study. Our results show that the formulation and the ancilla handling technique is crucial to solve the problem successfully. Finally, we also provide practical guidelines on the size limits of problem instances that can be realistically solved on current quantum computers.

A few minutes spent browsing the web is enough to expose most internet users to lots of advertisements, most of which have been targeted to some extent based on the viewer’s preferences and interests. But even if this has become one of the predominant form of marketing in the 21st century, the global market value for TV advertising exceeded $225B in 2022.

Earth observation satellites (EOS) collect vital data for various applications such as weather forecasting, disaster management, environmental monitoring, etc. Maximizing the value of this data requires designing optimal EOS missions to capture targets with high business value or priority while satisfying complex constraints such as storage capacity, energy limits, weather, etc. However, traditional computing methods often struggle with the complexity of optimizing EOS mission schedules, leading to suboptimal target selection and reduced data collection efficiency.

In this paper, we demonstrate the potential of our quantum algorithm to optimize EOS mission schedules and improve the efficiency of multiple EOS in real-time. The aim is to maximize the acquisition of high-priority targets with significant business value within the constraints of limited resources. We evaluated the performance of our quantum algorithm by comparing it with two classical optimization algorithms: simulated annealing and Gurobi optimizer. Our quantum algorithm outperformed the Gurobi optimizer by 23.46%.

The first commercial quantum applications in production are using D-Wave’s quantum technology. An “in-production” quantum application means that the business has gone through the quantum journey from use case exploration and identification, to validation, POC and pilot, all the way to deploying a real-world application that is delivering ROI-driving business outcomes. Read the case story to get a deep dive into one commercial quantum application in production using D-Wave.

Inadequately planned factory layouts can lead to higher operational costs. The planning process is time-consuming and multiple planning parameters must be considered simultaneously, leading to large solution spaces. Automated planning approaches can support the planning team in the early phases of layout planning by generating layout variants that can afterwards be further specified. Recent studies from other disciplines have shown the potential of Quantum Annealing (QA) to solve complex assignment problems within seconds. Consequently, this paper presents a first implementation of a QA-based layout planning approach and demonstrates its advantages regarding scalability, solution quality, and computing time.

With the increase of intermittent renewable generation resources feeding into the electrical grid, Distribution System Operators (DSOs) must find ways to incorporate these new actors and adapt the grid to ensure stability and enable flexibility. Dividing the grid into logical clusters entails several organization and technical benefits, helping overcome these challenges. However, finding the optimal grid partitioning remains a challenging task due to its complexity. Learn how E.ON, a leading German utility company, approached this hard problem with D-Wave technology.

With the increase of intermittent renewable generation resources feeding into the electrical grid, Distribution System Operators (DSOs) must find ways to incorporate these new actors and adapt the grid to ensure stability and enable flexibility. Dividing the grid into logical clusters entails several organization and technical benefits, helping overcome these challenges.However, finding the optimal grid partitioning remains a challenging task due to its complexity. At the same time, a new technology has gained traction in the last decades for its promising speed-up potential in solving non-trivial combinatorial optimization problems: quantum computing. This work explores its application in Graph Partitioning using electrical modularity. We benchmarked several quantum annealing and hybrid methods on IEEE well-known test cases. The results obtained for the IEEE 14-bus test case show that quantum annealing DWaveSampler brings equal solutions or, for the optimal number partitions, a 1% improvement. For the more significant test cases, hybrid quantum annealing shows a relative error of less than 0.02% compared to the classical benchmark and for IEEE 118-bus test case shows time performance speed-up. The increment in performance would enable real time planning and operations of electrical grids in real time. This work intends to be the first step to showcase the potentials of quantum computing towards the modernization and adaption of electrical grids to the decentralized future of energy systems.

In this paper we propose a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for dynamic portfolio optimization with minimal holding period. Our algorithm is based on sampling the near-optimal portfolios at each trading step using a quantum processor, and efficiently post-selecting to meet the minimal holding constraint. We found the optimal investment trajectory in a dataset of 50 assets spanning a one year trading period using the D-Wave 2000Q processor. Our method is remarkably efficient, and produces results much closer to the efficient frontier than typical portfolios. Moreover, we also show how our approach can easily produce trajectories adapted to different risk profiles, as typically offered in financial products. Our results are a clear example of how the combination of quantum and classical techniques can offer novel valuable tools to deal with real-life problems, beyond simple toy models, in current NISQ quantum processors.

Digital transformation is altering our lives in many positive ways. This acceleration of digital transformation, however, has also led to an increased potential risk in identity fraud, as well as social engineering and data theft to businesses, consumers and the broader ecosystem. In this talk, learn how PayPal is tapping advances in quantum computing to innovate on feature selection, a critical step in building powerful models to fight sophisticated fraud.

In this session, the an Mphasis expert will discuss how quantum computing can reduce the execution time for algorithms, achieve better accuracy, identify complex patterns in data to improve accuracy, and help solve complex problems. It will also showcase live quantum computing demos running on quantum hardware to solve targeted industry challenges.

NEC Australia and D-Wave were selected by the Australian Department of Defence to demonstrate the use of hybrid quantum computing technology to solve a “last mile resupply” problem. The technology optimised how autonomous vehicles were used to resupply army forces from a central base. A live demonstration is included in this talk.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has been envisioned as a technology that utilizes automated air transportation services to carry people or cargo at lower altitudes in and around urban areas. In this talk, experts from Sumitomo, OneSky Systems, and Tohoku University formulate the problem of discovering the safe and short routes for multiple aircraft to fly as quadratic forms and present a dynamic route planning algorithm for time-dependent simultaneous flight requests.

In this talk, hear a summary of current practices in asset liability modelling (ALM) within the insurance sector and an insight into what ALM may be like in the immediate future by demonstration of how quantum annealing can be used for ALM.

Modelling behaviors in networks is highly complicated but essential for understanding dynamics of the current world, especially the adoption of new technologies. In this talk, experts from Bank of Canada and Multiverse Computing extend Jackson and Watts (2002) to study how firms located in a trade network adopt cryptocurrency as a method of payment

Molecular Docking is an important step of the drug discovery process which aims at calculating the preferred position and shape of one molecule to a second when they are bound to each other. Using D-Wave's quantum system, results and performances are compared with state of art classical solvers.

Recommender systems help users navigate the vast number of options at their disposal in this era of information. A challenging step is to understand how to select item attributes that best represent the user perception, which is often time consuming and requires domain knowledge and understanding of user behavior. They represent the feature selection as an optimization problem and solve it on a D-Wave system.

DirectFood.store (DFS) is a truly farm to table solution that pickups food from local farms and vendors across a region and delivers customer the same day it was picked up. This is done without the use of warehouses and all of the food a customer ordered arrives at the same time. Scaling this delivery model, which they call many-to-many delivery, is made more complex when various business rules (constraints) are added to the equation. During this talk, they discuss how DFS successfully worked with D-Wave to scale this delivery model.

Residual Statics Estimation (RSE) is a computationally challenging example of a geophysical optimization problem. In this work, researchers from researchers from TNO, Aramco, and TU Delft show how to map the RSE problem to a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) formulation, how to implement it on the quantum annealer, and present their early computational results.

In this work, Durham University seeks efficient optimal or near-optimal solutions for energy efficient routing of wireless sensor network. Their preliminary results show that this approach using quantum computing has great promise and may open the door for other significant improvements in the efficacy of network algorithms.

Groovenauts has successfully released the world’s first business service powered with quantum annealing technology in their service, MAGELLAN BLOCKS. Since then, they have been advancing the application of quantum annealing to companies in various industries, such as manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and service. As a pioneer of solving the actual corporate issues, they will share how they handle projects and what kind of achievement we make.

In this talk, Steven Abel, Professor at Durham University, discusses recent developments in the implementation of complex physical systems on quantum annealers. These include systems that allow quantum tunnelling and barrier penetration across specified potentials. The results we find are in accord with those predicted theoretically showing that a quantum annealer is a genuine quantum system that can be used as a quantum laboratory. More generally he shows how his techniques can generally be used to optimise arbitrary potentials in several dimensions. He compares classical with quantum optimisation methods and finds a qualitative improvement over classical techniques.

An artificial spin ice is a manufactured physical system defined by interacting binary variables. Interesting physical properties arise when all constraints defining the interactions cannot be satisfied, namely the system is frustrated. Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) presents the first realization of artificial spin ice in a lattice of coupled qubits to recreate physical phenomena found in actual magnetic materials.