Researchers at Microsoft have reported the construction of the first “topological qubits” in a gadget that stores information in an exotic state of matter, in what may be a huge milestone for quantum computing.
The researchers also released a "road map" for future study and a publication in Nature at the same time. The Majorana 1 processor's design is expected to accommodate up to a million qubits, which could be sufficient to achieve many important objectives of quantum computing, including speedier drug and material design and the cracking of cryptographic algorithms.
If Microsoft's claims are correct, the business may have surpassed competitors such as IBM and Google, which appear to be leading the race to construct a quantum computer.
However, the peer-reviewed Nature publication only demonstrates a portion of what the researchers claim, and the road map still includes numerous obstacles to overcome. While the Microsoft news release reveals what appears to be quantum computing technology, there is no independent confirmation of its capabilities. Nonetheless, the news from Microsoft is highly encouraging.
You've undoubtedly got a few questions. What is a topological qubit? What is a qubit, anyway? And why would anyone desire quantum computers in the first place?
Quantum bits are difficult to build.
The concept of quantum computers originated in the 1980s. A regular computer stores information in bits, whereas a quantum computer stores information in quantum bits, or qubits.
An ordinary bit can have a value of either 0 or 1, however, a quantum bit can have both (due to quantum physics laws that govern very small particles). A qubit is an arrow that can point in any direction (or what is known as a "superposition" of up and down).
This means that a quantum computer would be substantially faster than a conventional computer for some types of calculations, notably those involving unpicking codes and mimicking natural systems.
Thus far, so good. However, it turns out that creating real qubits and getting information in and out of them is extremely challenging, as interactions with the outside world might disrupt the fragile quantum states within.
Researchers have experimented with a variety of approaches to create qubits, including atoms trapped in electric fields and current eddies swirling in superconductors.
Tiny wires and exotic particles.
Microsoft has chosen a radically different strategy for developing its "topological qubits." They have used Majorana particles, which were first proposed in 1937 by Italian scientist Ettore Majorana.
Majoranas are not naturally occurring particles, such as electrons or protons. They only exist inside a rare type of material known as a topological superconductor (which requires advanced material design and cooling to extremely low temperatures).
Indeed, Majorana particles are so unusual that they are typically solely studied at universities and not used in practical applications.
The Microsoft team claims that they employed a pair of small wires, each with a Majorana particle trapped at either end, to operate as a qubit. They use microwaves to measure the qubit's value, which is expressed as whether an electron is in one wire or the other.
Braided Bits
Why has Microsoft put in so much effort By shifting the positions of Majorana particles (or measuring them in a specific way), they can be "braided" to be measured without error and resistant to outside interference. (This is the "topological" component of "topological qubits.")
In theory, a quantum computer built using Majorana particles can be entirely devoid of the qubit defects that plague previous designs.
This explains why Microsoft has taken such a somewhat arduous method. Other technologies are more error-prone, and hundreds of physical qubits may be required to create a single reliable "logical qubit."
Microsoft has instead focused its efforts and money on developing Majorana-based qubits. While the corporation is late to the quantum party, it aims to catch up soon.
A Catch is Always Present.
As is customary, if anything appears too good to be true, there is a catch. Even with a Majorana-based quantum computer, such as the one announced by Microsoft, one operation, known as T-gate, will not be error-free.
So the Majorana-based quantum device is just "almost error-free." However, correcting for T-gate mistakes is far simpler than general error correction on other quantum platforms.
What happens now? Microsoft will attempt to go forward with its road map, gradually building larger and larger collections of qubits.
The scientific community will be intently watching how Microsoft's quantum computing processors work and how they compare to other established quantum computing processors.
Simultaneously, colleges around the world will continue to conduct studies into the strange and mysterious behavior of Majora particles.
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