A group of Australian researchers, led by physicist Michelle Simmons, created the first quantum chip in history.
Thanks to it, the world around us can be analyzed even on the smallest scale.
Quantum physics has important technological applications, such as work with computers; explains the atom, chemical bonding, molecules, and the interaction of light with particles.
Silicon Quantum Computing’s quantum chip is made with silicon, due to the ease with which a qubit can be kept in check on it.
Simmons stated in a statement quoted by Information Age, that “Today’s classical computers struggle to simulate even relatively small molecules due to the large number of possible interactions between atoms.”
“The development of SQC’s atomic-scale circuit technology will enable the company and its customers to build quantum models for a range of new materials, whether they be pharmaceuticals, battery materials or catalysts.”
The researcher warns: “It will not be long before we can begin to realize new materials that had never existed before.”
work with the quantum chip
Simmons and his colleagues have been working on quantum technology for more than 20 years, nine specifically on the quantum chip shown this week in the journal Nature.
In 2012 the first quantum transistor was built: this is a small device that controls electronic signals, forming a part of a computer circuit. What was achieved by Simmons and company is an integrated circuit, much more complex, since it unites several transistors.
The team not only created the working quantum processor, but also successfully tested it, modeling a molecule in which each atom possesses multiple quantum states, something very difficult to achieve with a traditional computer.
To achieve the first quantum integrated circuit, SQC required the completion of three separate technological feats of atomic engineering.
Create such small dots of atoms of uniform size so that their energy levels lined up and electrons could pass through them easily.
Achieve the ability to adjust the energy levels of each point individually, but also of all points collectively, to control the passage of quantum information.
The ability of the teams to control the distances between the dots with sub-nanometer precision so that the dots were close enough but remained independent for coherent quantum transport of electrons through the chain.
Simmons points out in an interview with WildWestDominio “One of the holy grails has always been to make a high-temperature superconductor”, “People just don’t know the mechanism of how it works”.
In a few years, according to the researchers, greater results will be known. Now a new door opens in the world of quantum physics. Published by WildWestDominio, a news and information agency.