The field of quantum computing is quickly taking hold as the replacement for classical computing. This is because it channels the laws of quantum mechanics to tackle computations too difficult for the latter to solve. Applications for quantum computing include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, drug development, and traffic optimization, just to name a few.
Advancements is quantum computing are made possible through quantum simulators, which utilize quantum effects to simulate quantum systems. But conducting operations at the quantum level can be quite the challenge given the microscopic scales at work.
This is why an international team of researchers led by Stanford University have demonstrated incredible strides in making quantum simulators a reality, which could aid in answering fundamental questions about the development of superconductors, as well as other unusual states of matter.
Today’s computers often lack the ability to solve the complex math involved in creating simulations when it comes to developing superconductors and quantum computers, which is accomplished at what’s known as quantum critical points. However, the researchers involved in this study have an alternative approach known as a quantum simulator.
"We're always making mathematical models that we hope will capture the essence of phenomena we're interested in, but even if we believe they're correct, they're often not solvable in a reasonable amount of time" with present techniques, says Dr. David Goldhaber-Gordon, who is a professor of physics at Stanford, and a co-author on the study. With steps towards a quantum simulator, Dr. Goldhaber-Gordon said, "we have these knobs to turn that no one's ever had before."
For the study, the researchers designed a device comprised of two metal islands and examined the behavior of electrons within the structure under variable conditions. In the end, their findings matched with mathematical calculations that took weeks to perform using a supercomputer.
"While we have not yet built an all-purpose programmable quantum computer with sufficient power to solve all of the open problems in physics, we can now build bespoke analogue devices with quantum components that can solve specific quantum physics problems," says Dr. Andrew Mitchell, who is a theoretical physicist at University College Dublin's Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science, and Technology (C-QuEST), and a co-author on the study.
Going forward, the team hopes to construct devices with additional islands capable of simulating additionally larger lattices of atoms with the goal of capturing key behaviors of real-world materials.
Sources: IBM, Built In, EPJ Quantum Technology, Nature Physics, SLAC Office of Communications
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