Tag: quantum computing

Scientists and lawmakers in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union are ramping up efforts to advance quantum computing in the West after scientists in China observed what appears to be the world’s first room-temperature time crystals.

A team of physicists hailing primarily from Tsinghua University in China, with contributions from scientists in Denmark and Austria, published peer-reviewed research on July 2 detailing the creation and observation of room-temperature time crystals.

In the month since the paper was published, quantum research labs in the West have announced numerous initiatives to extend existing efforts in the field of quantum computing and to create new research partnerships.

Room-temperature time crystals

Time crystals are a unique state of matter originally proposed by physicist Frank Wilczek in 2012. They work similarly to other crystals, such as snowflakes or diamonds, which are created when specific molecules form lattice-like bonds that repeat through space.

In time crystals, however, the molecules bond in time. Instead of locking into a crystalline structure that repeats, a time crystal’s molecules flicker back and forth between different configurations like a GIF on a loop. 

Back in 2021, an international team of scientists working with Google’s quantum computing lab simulated time crystals using a quantum computer. This breakthrough demonstrated the potential for quantum computers to explore exotic states of matter and set the stage for the convergence of quantum tech and time crystals.

Now, in July 2024, the Tsinghua team appears to have created time crystals at room temperature. This, theoretically, allows time crystal technology to be employed in non-laboratory equipment and could serve as a massive accelerator for the development of useful quantum computers.

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A new phase of matter previously recognized only in theory has been created by researchers using a quantum processor, which demonstrates the control of an exotic form of particles called non-Abelian anyons.

Neither fermions nor bosons, these exotic anyons fall someplace in between and are believed only to be able to exist in two-dimensional systems. Controlling them allowed the creation of an entirely new phase of matter the researchers now call non-Abelian topological order.

THE WORLD OF NON-ABELIAN ANYONS

In our everyday world of three dimensions, just two types of particles exist: bosons and fermions. Bosons include light, as well as the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson, whereas fermions comprise protons, neutrons, and electrons that constitute the matter throughout our universe.

Non-Abelian anyons are identified as quasiparticles, meaning that they are particle-like manifestations of excitation that persist for periods within a specific state of matter. They are of particular interest for their ability to store memory, which may have a variety of technological applications, particularly in quantum computing.

One of the reasons for this is because of the stability non-Abelian anyons possess when compared to qubits, which are currently used in quantum computing platforms. Unlike qubits, which can at times be less than reliable, non-Abelian anyons can store information as they move around one another without the influence of their environment, making them ideal targets for use in computational systems once they can be harnessed at larger scales.

In recent research, Ashvin Vishwanath, the George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics at Harvard University, used a quantum processor to test how non-Abelian anyons might be leveraged to perform quantum computation.

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Quantum physics and mechanical engineering have been united in a breakthrough method allowing the control of quantum phenomena at room temperature, according to the findings of a pioneering new study.

In quantum mechanics, observing and controlling quantum phenomena has traditionally only occurred under conditions where temperatures approach absolute zero. Theoretically the coldest temperature attainable and roughly equivalent to around -459.67 Fahrenheit, absolute zero is the point at which matter becomes so cold that the motion of particles would cease.

Although allowing for easier detection of quantum effects, reaching such astoundingly cold temperatures is not easy, and has limited applications and studies involving quantum technologies.

“Reaching the regime of room temperature quantum optomechanics has been an open challenge since decades,” says Tobias J. Kippenberg, the co-author of a new study that, based on its findings, could finally present practical ways of overcoming such challenges.

According to Kippenberg, the new work has brought what physicists call Heisenberg’s microscope—once only realized as a theoretical model—into reality.

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