Researchers Reveal Breakthrough Material That Can Revolutionize Quantum Computers

As the requirement for improvements for computing and quantum computing capabilities increases, technology companies, scientists and researchers strive to solve current problems in the industry.

This need becomes even more prominent as the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) grips industries around the world.

Keeping to this thought, researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Melbourne made an announcement that’s set to revolutionize the future of computers, with regards to computing power, especially with quantum technologies. 

So, what did the researchers reveal? Let’s explore!
 

What Did The Researchers Announce?

 

• As per a news release published on the University of Melbourne’s website, researchers from the university along with others from the University of Manchester announced they invented a new material using a breakthrough technique for manufacturing highly purified silicon.

• This innovation enables the creation of ultra-pure silicon that enables innovators to make powerful quantum computers with high accuracy and at scale.

• The breakthrough, which was published on Nature (the world's leading multidisciplinary science journal), uses qubits of phosphorous atoms implanted into crystals of pure stable silicon and can overcome the prominent problem that leads to “notoriously fragile quantum coherence.”

• Qubits (quantum bits), which form the building blocks of quantum computers, face problems in even the slightest of temperature and environment changes. Even when operating in near freezing temperatures and calm environments, they can “maintain error-free coherence for only a tiny fraction of a second”.

• The material created by the researchers has enabled them to construct high-performance qubit devices.

• They were able to create this breakthrough material by directing a focused, high-speed beam of pure silicon-28 at a silicon chip, which replaced the silicon-29 atoms and reducing it from 4.5 per cent to two parts per million (0.0002 per cent).

• Even though silicon mostly comprises of silicon-28, which is the desired isotope, it does include around 4.5% of silicon-29, which comes with an extra neutron that acts as a rogue magnet that leads to it “destroying quantum coherence and creating computing errors.”

• According to the researchers, creating the material isn’t too tough a process, as it can be created using a standard ion implanter (found in any semiconductor fabrication lab) with slight modifications.

• As per the release, the new chips “house and protect the qubits so they can sustain quantum coherence much longer, enabling complex calculations with greatly reduced need for error correction.”

 

What Did The Researchers Say?

 

• Ravi Acharya, a joint University of Manchester/University of Melbourne Cookson Scholar and project lead author, said “Electronic chips currently within an everyday computer consist of billions of transistors — these can also be used to create qubits for silicon-based quantum devices.”

• [Contd.] “The ability to create high quality silicon qubits has in part been limited to date by the purity of the silicon starting material used. The breakthrough purity we show here solves this problem.”

• Professor Richard Curry, from the University of Manchester and project co-supervisor, said, “What we’ve been able to do is effectively create a critical ‘brick’ needed to construct a silicon-based quantum computer. It’s a crucial step to making a technology that has the potential to be transformative for humankind.”

• Professor David Jamieson, from the University of Melbourne and project co-supervisor, said, “Fragile quantum coherence means computing errors build up rapidly. With robust coherence provided by our new technique, quantum computers could solve in hours or minutes some problems that would take conventional or ‘classical’ computers – even supercomputers – centuries.”

• [Contd.] “Others are experimenting with alternatives, but we believe silicon is the leading candidate for quantum computer chips that will enable the enduring coherence required for reliable quantum calculations.”

• [Contd.] “Now that we can produce extremely pure silicon-28, our next step will be to demonstrate that we can sustain quantum coherence for many qubits simultaneously.”

Do you think this innovation will benefit companies engaged in quantum computing?

Let us know in the comments below!