Researchers have created an operating system for quantum computers. This system should allow the connection of several of them.
The researchers published their report in the scientific journal Nature. Research into quantum computing is evolving, but a quantum computer can still be made using many different hardware technologies.
Therefore, Several machines are not always compatible, and the operating system must change that. The more universal way of building quantum networks should make it possible to share calculations safely across different quantum computers.
Because it’s software that relies less on pure hardware coding, the operating system, called QNodeOS, can manage devices within a quantum network, regardless of the types of qubits. In early tests, for example, it linked a quantum computer with qubits made of diamonds to one that uses electrical atoms for its qubits. The OS should also make it easier to write and deploy applications for the computers.
Researchers from the so-called Quantum Internet Alliance, which consists of teams from universities in Delft and Innsbruck and research centres in France, worked on the system.