Cluster states made from multiple photons with a special entanglement structure are a useful resource for quantum technologies. Two-dimensional cluster states of microwave photons have now been deterministically generated using a superconducting circuit.
As silicon-based computer chips approach their physical limitations in the quest for faster and smaller designs, the search for alternative materials that remain functional at atomic scales is one of science’s biggest challenges.
In a groundbreaking development, researchers at the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence have engineered a protective film that shields quantum semiconductor layers just one atom thick from environmental influences without compromising their revolutionary quantum properties. This puts the application of these delicate atomic layers in ultrathin electronic components within realistic reach. The findings have been published in Nature Communications.
Scientists have created a reprogrammable light-based processor, a world-first, that they say could usher in a new era of quantum computing and communication.
Technologies in these emerging fields that operate at the atomic level are already realizing big benefits for drug discovery and other small-scale applications.
In the future, large-scale quantum computers promise to be able to solve complex problems that would be impossible for today’s computers.
Photon-mediated entanglement in atomic ensembles coupled to cavities enables the engineering of quantum states with a graph-like entanglement structure. This offers potential advantages in quantum computation and metrology.
Polaritonic chemistry has ushered in new avenues for controlling molecular dynamics. However, two key questions remain: (i) Can classical light sources elicit the same effects as certain quantum light sources on molecular systems? (ii) Can semiclassical treatments of light–matter interactions capture nontrivial quantum effects observed in molecular dynamics? This work presents a quantum-classical approach addressing issues of realizing cavity chemistry effects without actual cavities. It also highlights the limitations of the standard semiclassical light–matter interaction. It is demonstrated that classical light sources can mimic quantum effects up to the second order of light–matter interaction provided that the mean-field contribution, the symmetrized two-time correlation function, and the linear response function are the same in both situations. Numerical simulations show that the quantum-classical method aligns more closely with exact quantum molecular-only dynamics for quantum light states such as Fock states, superpositions of Fock states, and vacuum squeezed states than does the conventional semiclassical approach.
A team of NUS researchers led by Associate Professor Lu Jiong from the Department of Chemistry and Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials, together with their international collaborators, have developed a novel concept of a chemist-intuited atomic robotic probe (CARP).
This innovation, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to mimic the decision-making process of chemists, enables the manufacturing of quantum materials with unrivaled intelligence and precision for future quantum technology applications such as data storage and quantum computing.
Open-shell magnetic nanographene is a type of carbon-based quantum material that possesses key electronic and magnetic properties that are important for developing extremely fast electronic devices at the molecular level, or creating quantum bits, the building blocks of quantum computers. The processes used to develop such materials have progressed over the years due the discovery of a new type of solid-phase chemical reaction known as on-surface synthesis.
Quantum computers are set to transform computing and society with their ability to solve problems that are currently intractable.
Quantum materials have generated considerable interest for computing applications in the past several decades, but non-trivial quantum properties—like superconductivity or magnetic spin—remain in fragile states.
“When designing quantum materials, the game is always a fight against disorder,” said Robert Hovden, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan.
Heat is the most common form of disorder that disrupts quantum properties. Quantum materials often only exhibit exotic phenomena at very low temperatures when the atom nearly stops vibrating, allowing the surrounding electrons to interact with one another and rearrange themselves in unexpected ways. This is why quantum computers are currently being developed in baths of liquid helium at −269 °C, or around −450 F. That’s just a few degrees above zero Kelvin (−273.15 °C).
