This article is re -published with Conversation under Creative Commons license.
Microsoft researchers have announced Creating the first “topological cubes” in a device that stores information in exotic state of matter, in a significant breakthrough for quantum calculations.
At the same time, scientists also published Paper in nature and “road map“For further work. Designing the Majorana 1 processor is to fit into a million cubits, which may be enough to achieve many significant goals of quantum calculations – such as cracking cryptographic codes and faster design of up-to-date drugs and materials.
If Microsoft’s claims have succumbed, the company may have had jumping competitors, such as IBM and Google, who are currently seeing Running a race To build a quantum computer.
However, the reviewed natural paper only shows a part of what the scientists claimed, and the road map still covers many obstacles to overcome. Although Microsoft’s press message shows something that is to be quantum processing equipment, we do not have any independent confirmation of what it can do. Nevertheless, Microsoft messages are very promising.
So far you probably have a few questions. What is a topological qubit? What is a quarter at all? And why do people want quantum computers above all?
Quantum bits are challenging to build
Quantum computers were first invented in the 1980s. In the event that a regular computer stores information in battles, the quantum computer stores information in quantum bits or cubes.
An ordinary bit can be 0 or 1, but a quantum beate (thanks to the laws of quantum mechanics that rule very petite molecules) can have a combination of both. If you imagine an ordinary bit as an arrow that can head up or down, a kwbit is an arrow that may indicate in any direction (or the so -called “superposition” up and bottom).
This means that a quantum computer would be much faster than a regular computer for some types of calculations – especially some related to developing codes and simulation of natural systems.
So far so good. However, it turns out that building real cubs and obtaining information from them is extremely challenging, because interactions with the outside world can destroy dainty quantum states inside.
Scientists have tried many different technologies to produce cubic, using such things as atoms trapped in the electrical fields or virus of current wiring in superconductors.
Tiny cables and exotic particles
Microsoft has adopted a completely different approach to building “topological cubs”. They used the so -called Majoran particles, for the first theoretical in 1937 by Italian physics Ettore Majorana.
Majorans do not naturally occur, such as electrons or protons. Instead, they exist only in a scarce type of material called topological superconductor (which requires advanced material design and must be cooled to very low temperatures).