11.6 Quantum benchmarks

How powerful is a gate- and circuit-based quantum computer? How much progress are we making with one qubit modality versus another? What does that mean when we say we can find a solution on a “powerful enough” quantum computer? When will we know we have arrived? benchmark

Benchmarks help us compare performance within a particular class of processors or across processors from competitive providers. For example, we can measure the coherence times among superconducting qubits from competitors or compare 2-qubit gate fidelities among all types of quantum computers to which we have access.

While knowing how well a given qubit is doing with coherence times and error rates is undoubtedly useful, it tells you nothing about the overall system and how well the components work together. You may have one or two spectacular, connected, and low-error-rate qubits, but other aspects of your system may make it unusable for executing practical...