Concept record · edition 0.1.0
NISQ
What the term means here
The noisy intermediate-scale quantum regime: devices with enough qubits for nontrivial experiments but without full fault tolerance.
Why it matters
It sets realistic expectations for present-day hardware and shallow or error-mitigated experiments.
What this does not establish
NISQ is not a guarantee of practical advantage for a particular use case.
Related claims · 3
- qc-003
Noise and imperfect operations limit the depth and reliability of computations performed directly on physical qubits.
- qc-009
Random-circuit sampling experiments demonstrate control over specific computational tasks, not a general-purpose application advantage.
- qc-010
Whether a NISQ device delivers a durable, practically relevant advantage for a specific real-world workload remains an active research question.
Sources used here
primary paper · verified
Quantum Computing in the NISQ era and beyond
John Preskill · 2018
Defines the NISQ framing and its limitations.
Source record →