Microsoft successfully created a quantum state that is not found in nature

Microsoft's Azure Quantum computer research project has just successfully built a special device, capable of producing quantum properties, which has been mentioned by science for a long time but has never been successfully implemented. public in the real world.

This is a key breakthrough for the successful production of new, highly stable quantum bits (qubits), and sets the stage for the development of a large-scale quantum computer.

Quantum chip made by Microsoft.

'It's amazing to see how humans are able to engineer one of the strangest aspects of physics in the universe. And we hope to be able to use it to do the impossible - to manufacture quantum computers with an acceptable level of error, and then push computing to the next level, almost to the point of a free world. nature works,' said Krysta Svore, a Microsoft engineer and leader of the quantum software development program.

Building on two decades of research and efforts to build cutting-edge simulators, the Azure Quantum team has built a device that generates topological states of molten matter. in a pair of Majorana methods zero*. 

*History of Majorana zero mode - MZM, roughly translated as Majorana zero mode (according to PNAS scientific research journal):

In 1937, the Italian theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana showed that, unlike Dirac's formula which describes the electron and its antiparticle positron, there exists another state where the fermium particle is also the its antiparticle. Although this particle has not been discovered by particle physics researchers (up to this point), it is hypothesized that a pair of Majorana states could still exist at the end of an engineered superconductor. in a special way.

These zero Majorana methods can form qubits for a quantum computer with an acceptable margin of error.

** Antiparticles: in particle physics, for each type of particle there will be an antiparticle with the same mass but with opposite properties (for example, opposite charges in terms of electromagnetism, or opposite color charge). each other when considering the QCD quantum interactive palette hypothesis).

As far as we know, the special quantum state MZM does not exist in nature, can only appear under extremely precise conditions. Science has long sought to construct them in the laboratory.

At this point, the Azure Quantum team was able to generate what is known as a topological state, while measuring topological distances and assessing the stability of the state.

A combination of devices used to keep quantum computers running in extremely cold environments.

From here, Microsoft can create a special qubit, called a topological qubit. According to Microsoft, their future quantum machine will be more stable than other types of qubits, from which its scale could reach unprecedented heights. Quantum computers, which are considered the next evolution of computers and supercomputers, will make use of quantum mechanics (the scientific school that describes the behavior of subatomic particles) to process information in in ways and scales that people have not yet imagined.

'Finding a way to eliminate hunger and save the Earth from climate change will require us to discover and optimize the molecular particle, a task that is impossible with classical computers, and that's when computers quantum life," said Microsoft's president of quantum Zulfi Alam.

However, before these ambitious plans come to fruition, Azure Quantum estimates that quantum computers must be at least 1 million qubits powerful. Currently, quantum computing systems that do not apply Microsoft's techniques are only more than 100 qubits powerful, not to mention scaling the computers is still a difficult problem to solve.

That's why Azure Quantum focuses on topological qubits, which are said to be faster, smaller in size, and with less data loss than conventional qubits. Over the past year, Azure Quantum's hardware research team has been working non-stop to test and prove the new quantum state is stable.

Currently, Microsoft researchers have carried out the step of assembling a quantum computing device.

Experts at Microsoft's Copenhagen Quantum Materials Laboratory have also spent years working on perfecting techniques that have allowed engineers to create machines that are precise at the atomic level. Thanks to tireless efforts, Microsoft has achieved a new breakthrough.

However, Microsoft's quantum leaders have not dared to be optimistic, when the amount of work ahead is still immeasurable. A quantum computer that can scale at will is still a dream at the moment.

But with a new breakthrough, accompanied by the appearance of advanced simulation systems and extremely high-precision devices, the project has gradually been shaped, no longer completely in the mystery.

"There are no longer any major obstacles in topological qubit generation," said senior manager Lauri Sainiemi. 'This doesn't mean we're done - there's still tons of work to do. But the basics have been answered, and now we're approaching the technical issues and that's going to be what we're after."