We’re definitely not a ways off for QC being available to the masses unless you believe 5 years is a long time.
Machine learning kept unstable quantum bits in line – even before they wavered. Cathal O’Connell reports.
Read more
Category: quantum physics – Page 775
Physicists at Princeton University have revealed a device they’ve created that will allow a single electron to transfer its quantum information to a photon. This is a revolutionary breakthrough for the team as it gets them one step closer to producing the ultimate quantum computer. The device is the result of five years worth of research and could accelerate the world of quantum computing no end.
Read more
Scientists at the University of Sydney have demonstrated the ability to “see” the future of quantum systems, and used that knowledge to preempt their demise, in a major achievement that could help bring the strange and powerful world of quantum technology closer to reality.
The applications of quantum-enabled technologies are compelling and already demonstrating significant impacts — especially in the realm of sensing and metrology. And the potential to build exceptionally powerful quantum computers using quantum bits, or qubits, is driving investment from the world’s largest companies.
However a significant obstacle to building reliable quantum technologies has been the randomisation of quantum systems by their environments, or decoherence, which effectively destroys the useful quantum character.
Read more
In Brief
- Scientists are a little bit closer to unlocking the mystery of how the rules of the quantum realm translate to the rules of the classical physics of the observable world.
- Experts predict that the materials used in this research, topological insulators, will play a key role in furthering this development.
It’s no surprise that quantum physics can be disorienting to the casual observer; after all, it does follow its own set of rules quite different from those of classical physics which rule over our everyday experience. In the quantum realm, things can and cannot be at the same time (to a certain extent) or are continually moving without spending energy. These don’t apply to the physics of macro-level matter.
These two realms are related, in so far as they occur in the same physical space. This relationship is what N. Peter Armitage, an associate professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University, wanted to figure out in a study published in the journal Science. “We found a particular material that is straddling these two regimes,” Armitage said.
Read more
This is amazing.
In Brief
- D-Wave has open-sourced its Qbsolv software, making it possible for anyone to develop programs for quantum computers that they can then test using a free D-Wave simulator.
- By making the tools needed for quantum computing development available to many, D-Wave is increasing the chances we’ll be able to harness this revolutionary technology sooner.
Read more
Although this was published last week; I got a request to share again for those who missed it.
While “product-market fit” may have become the mantra for many tech companies and investors, we believe there are still plenty of companies out there with their eyes set on building true game-changing technologies. In our Game Changers report, we identified 8 categories of innovation that could have the greatest impact on how we live. Among these is next-gen computing — specifically, quantum computers and DNA data-writing technologies, which have the potential to fast-track innovation across industries.
Quantum computers can solve real-world problems much faster than traditional computers — and their capacity is only increasing. Meanwhile, using synthetic DNA to store vastly more data than a typical chip has the potential to revolutionize computers’ memory capacity.
In our report, we identified 5 startups taking computing to the next level through quantum computing and DNA-based data writing. The top five next-gen computing game changers are Twist Bioscience, Rigetti Computing, Cambridge Quantum Computing, KnuEdge, and Optalysys. On the vanguard of computing research, many companies in the category are at the grant, seed, or Series A stage, with the notable exception of the later-stage DNA computer tech company Twist Bioscience.
Syn. Neurons via Q-Dot Laser. Nice.
Greek researchers working at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA) optical communication photonic technology laboratory have developed an artificial “neuron” that simulates fundamental functions of the human brain, at speeds that are many orders of magnitude higher.
A paper on the new breakthrough made by the Greek team, led by Prof. Dimitris Syvridis with Dr. Charis Mesaritakis as main researcher and with Alexandros Kapsalis and Adonis Bogris listed as authors, was published in the “Scientific Reports” section of the science journal “Nature” on December 19.
Simulating the action of biological neurons is the “Holy Grail” of computing; the proposal developed by Mesaritakis and his team uses an integrated all-optical neuron based on an InAs/InGaAs semiconductor quantum-dot passively mode-locked laser.
Nice.
A sophisticated cooling technique — using lasers to cool individual atoms — was demonstrated at the National Institute of Standards in Technology in 1978, and is now used in a wide array of precise applications, such as atomic clocks. Using the same principle, NIST physicists have now “cooled a mechanical object to a temperature lower than previously thought possible,” passing the so-called “quantum limit” which imposes limits on accuracy for quantum scale measurements.
Described in a paper titled “Sideband cooling beyond the quantum backaction limit with squeezed light,” published Thursday in the journal Nature, the technique could theoretically be used to cool objects to absolute zero, when matter exhibits almost no energy or motion.
The researchers took a microscopic mechanical aluminum drum — diameter of 20 micrometers and thickness of 100 nanometers — and put it in a superconducting circuit, which itself was placed inside an electromagnetic cavity. Microwave photons of “squeezed light” — the photons were purified, or stripped, of the unwanted fluctuations that could cause heating — were then used to create resonance in the cavity, which in turn caused the drum to beat. As the cavity filled up with photons, they leaked out, carrying with them phonons — mechanical units of energy — and thus lowering the total energy state of the drum to just a fifth of a single quantum of energy.
Nice job Geordie and Vern.
Search the universe with qbsolv
Want to fool around with some quantum-ish computing? D-Wave has open sourced a software tool that prepares optimisation problems to run on its hardware.