GuShiio.com ① Through 17 years of research, Microsoft successfully created controllable Majorana particles by developing the “world’s first topology” and placed them on the chip;
② In addition to manufacturing Mayorana particles, Microsoft also has the ability to measure information from them;
③ In this cutting-edge field, China scientists also have plans.
Cailian News, February 20 (Editor Shi Zhengcheng)As U.S. technology giant Microsoft released its new quantum computing chip Majorana 1 on Wednesday, it’s time for global investors to “take physics lessons” again.
Microsoft said that through this “world’s first topological architecture quantum chip”,Developing quantum computers that can solve “meaningful industrial-scale problems” will be something that will be achievable in the next few years, rather than the decades previously expected by the scientific community。
As the easiest part of this article, Microsoft’s latest announcement has driven the rise in quantum computing concepts. As of press time, Quantum Computing has risen more than 6%, and D-Wave Quantum has risen nearly 10%.
So, what the hell is this?
As the background of this technological breakthrough, the core of quantum computers is qubits, which are units of information in quantum computing, similar to the binary system used by computers today. The problem is that qubits are quite fragile and sensitive to environmental noise, which can lead to calculation errors or data loss-devastating results for computers. This is also the core contradiction behind the current slow development of quantum computing.
For Microsoft, Google, and IBM, which are developing quantum computers, the ultimate goal is to accommodate 1 million qubits on a chip of controllable size-commonly known as a universal fault-tolerant quantum computer.
In order to solve this problem, Microsoft spent 17 years handing over the current answer sheet:By creating the so-called “world’s first topology”, the Mayorana particle can be observed and controlled, resulting in more reliable and scalable qubits.
Theoretical physicist Ettore Mayorana first described Mayorana particles in 1937, but they do not exist in nature. Until a few years ago, such particles had never been observed or created. In a paper published in the journal Nature,Microsoft revealed that it uses indium arsenide (semiconductors) and aluminum (superconductors) to design and build topological conductor wires-so-called “transistors of the quantum age”-atom by atom.
Microsoft researcher Krysta Svore said that selecting the right material stack to produce a topological state is one of the most difficult parts. Svore said: “We actually spray it atom by atom, and the materials have to be perfectly aligned. If you have too many defects in the pile, it will destroy your qubits.”
Microsoft explained that when a topological conductor wire is cooled to near absolute zero and tuned by a magnetic field, Mayorana zero-energy modes (MZMs) form at both ends. Mayorana qubits are more stable than other alternatives. They are fast, small, digitally controllable, and have unique properties that protect quantum information.
On the Majorana 1 chip, Microsoft connects topologically conductive nanowires together to form an “H”, with each cell having four controllable Mayorana particles to form a qubit.The “H” units can be connected, and Microsoft has successfully placed 8 units in one chip。In this way, Microsoft enables quantum bits to be digitally controlled, redefining and greatly simplifying the way quantum computing works.
In addition to making the Mayorana particles, Microsoft now also has the ability to measure information from them. Microsoft said the new measurement method could be accurate enough to detect the difference between a billion and a billion particles in a superconducting wire-which would tell computers what state the qubit is in and lay the foundation for quantum computing.Measurements can be turned on and off via voltage pulse switches, simplifying the process of quantum computing and the physical requirements of building scalable machines.
Of course, Microsoft’s ultimate goal is still to put 1 million qubits on a palm-sized chip.
For humans, the realization of quantum computing also means that many “problems that will still take thousands of years to solve when investing in computing power on the whole earth” see hope for solutions in the short term, especially in the fields of materials science and medicine.
Next, we enter the “pie painting” time.
Microsoft said that through the powerful computing power of quantum computing, it can help scientists solve “why materials are corroded and broken”, thereby developing self-healing materials that can automatically repair bridges, cracks in aircraft components, and broken mobile phone screens.
Quantum computing can also fully unleash the potential of AI.
China also has a layout in this field
China scientists have also made scientific research progress in recent years in the fields such as “topological quantum” and “Mayorana zero-energy modes” mentioned in the Microsoft report.
According to CCTV reports in 2022,Gao Hongjun, academician of China Academy of Sciences and researcher of the Institute of Physics of China Academy of SciencesA more detailed and in-depth study was carried out on the iron-based superconductor LiFeAs. They experimentally found that stress can induce a large-area, highly ordered and controllable Mayorana zero-energy mottled grid array. This research provides an important high-quality research platform for realizing topological quantum computing.
(Source: CCTV)
In August last year, Associate Professors Li Yaoyi and Jia Jinfeng of the School of Physics and Astronomy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Li Zhengdao Institute and Associate Professor Liu Junwei of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology formed a joint research team to discover multiple Majorana in the superconducting flux vortex of topological crystal insulators. Key evidence for the existence of zero-energy modes. The study was also published in the journal Nature under the title “Characteristics of Multiple Majorana Zero-Energy Mode Hybridization in a Single Magnetic Flux.”
