How advancements in material science will boost quantum computing

Quantum computers will surpass the computing abilities of the computers we use today, currently, the quantum computers which are operatable aren't at their maximum capabilities, well no way near what a quantum computer is capable of, well you can say not even a fraction of what they will become as new technologies develop and advancements are made. Current quantum computer technology has many challenges to face, for example, Two-qubit error gates, Loss of coherence, difficulty in building and programming, and more hurdles on which researchers are working to fix.

There is a need for advances in hardware and materials for making better quantum computers. 

Now a team has published a study in the journal Science, which surveyed the state of research on quantum computing hardware to illustrate the challenges and opportunities scientists, engineers and researchers are facing.

Now as quantum computers use qubits, which work vastly different from bits that are used in classical computers, as these qubits can store and manipulate information in exotic forms, being able to store more information as the state space grows exponentially as the number of qubits increases. But these require care to keep them in a superposition state, and sophisticated control of the underlying material. 

Most of the work done in quantum computing has been aimed to prove the principle of quantum devices and processors, and now the field is poised to address real-world problems, said Nathalie de Leon, the author of the paper.

She says, as classical computer hardware has become a field in material science and engineering in the last century, quantum technologies will also ripe for a new approach. 

As new technological advances in material science will boost this field to tackle many difficulties and problems. Not just mathematical or scientific calculations but quantum computers will also be able to solve daily world problems and things. 

The paper further calls scientists who study materials to turn to the challenge of developing hardware for quantum computers, said Hanhee Paik, a research staff member at IBM Quantum, and also the co-author of the paper.

Further, Paik says that the progress in quantum computing technologies has been accelerating in recent years both in research and industry and to continue moving forward in the next decade we will need advances in materials and fabrication technologies. 

The decoherence, noise, and loss of qubits is a major problem so understanding the microscopic mechanisms that lead to noise, loss, and decoherence is crucial in developing quantum technologies, this would be accelerated by developing high-throughput methods for correlating qubit measurement with direct materials spectroscopy and characterization. And the relatively few material platforms for solid-state QIP (Quantum INfomratino processing) have been developed, so new platforms are needed to be developed that can exploit directed materials searches in concert with high throughput characterization approaches ar rapid screening for properties relevant to QIP. Methods to control errors will be essential for quantum technology, we study the feasibility of implementation of quantum error correction with refreshed ancillas in solid-state NMR (Nuclear magnetic resonance). The procedure of extracting entropy that consists of two stages, an error correction code optimized to function at finite temperature, and implementation of heat bath algorithmic cooling to refresh qubits. 

Now, these qubits are made in several ways, currently being made by superconducting qubits, qubits made from trapped ions with light, made from silicon materials, qubits captured in color centers in high purity diamonds, and topologically protected qubits. Researchers hope one of these platforms will be feasible for quantum computing and would be able to solve problems that current computers can't be, like modeling the behavior of molecules and providing encryption.


Comments