Breakthrough quantum chip that harnesses new state of matter could set us on the path to quantum supremacy

By Keumars Afifi-Sabet published 2 hours ago

Microsoft scientists have created a quantum processor that taps into a rare state of matter that was first theorized in the 1930s, paving the way for a processor with a million qubits within years.


Scientists at Microsoft have built a new quantum computing chip using a special category of material capable of tapping into a new state of matter. This breakthrough could enable researchers to build a single chip with millions of reliable qubits much sooner than experts predicted — possibly within just a few years rather than decades.

The new quantum processing unit (QPU), called "Majorana 1," is an eight-qubit prototype chip built from the first material of its kind in the world — a topological conductor, or topoconductor. This can reach the "topological" state of matter and tap into the laws quantum mechanics under the right conditions in order to process the 1s and 0s of computing data in a quantum computer.

The new type of qubit, called a "topological qubit," is stable, smaller, less power-draining and more scalable than a qubit made from a superconducting metal — the most common type of qubit used in quantum computers built by companies such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft itself.

"We took a step back and said 'Ok, let's invent the transistor for the quantum age. What properties does it need to have?'," Chetan Nayak, Microsoft technical fellow and professor of physics at the University of California Santa Barbara, said in a statement. "And that's really how we got here — it's the particular combination, the quality and the important details in our new materials stack that have enabled a new kind of qubit and ultimately our entire architecture."

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https://www.livescience.com/technology/computing/quantum-processor-that-uses-entirely-new-state-of-matter-could-set-us-on-the-path-to-quantum-supremacy