Scientists already know how to control 'sound matter'.

According to the latest scientific papers, researchers have been able to control "sound matter", called phonons . According to their explanation, phonons cannot be called essentially a substance, but are considered to be the constituents of sound, just like the photons that make up light.

Light photons are currently used to store information on quantum computers, and replacing it with phonons will have many different benefits, but also requires new technologies for better control.

In the past, phonon control was nearly impossible, because every time it was detected, the phonon would immediately decay. Previous methods of using phonons turned them into electricity in quantum circuits, called superconducting qubit processes. These circuits can receive a certain amount of electricity, so when they have the right number of phonons they will absorb - decompose the phonons but generate a signal.

The slow speed of sound also helps scientists discover phonons in many different states.

In new JILA studies, the researchers calibrated the circuit so that it does not decompose the phonons in the absorption process, but only accelerates the flow of electricity thanks to a special vibrating material placed in it. This test is able to measure the current each time a phonon passes through.

Lucas Sletten from UC Boulder said: "There has been a lot of impressive scientific work on using superconducting qubit technology with light photons, and I wonder what else we can do with sound phonons. ? ".

The most noticeable difference is that sound travels much slower than light . Thanks to this, Sletten and his colleagues were able to better study vascular-phonon interaction . They "captured" the phonon by placing sound mirrors, making these substances "bounce back and forth" like a mirror interacting with light. Sound mirrors only need to be placed at very small intervals, while light mirrors will have to be at least 12m apart.

The slow speed of sound also helps scientists discover phonons in many different states. As Mr. Sletten explains, quantum computers calculate by adding superconducting qubits. But with phonons, we only need one superconducting qubit, but in many different states can achieve similar results.

"This is a huge milestone," shared Yiwen Chu, a physicist at ETH Zurich. It will certainly be a step towards helping people better understand and control quantum computers. But in the future researchers will also have to improve before the technology can be applied in practice, such as increasing the 'lifespan' of the phonon - now only takes place in 600 nanoseconds.