This past June, a group of Australian physicists created the world’s first atomic-scale quantum processor. This finding not only brings us closer to faster and more efficient quantum computers but also represents a revolutionary advance that will allow us, thanks to its ability to mimic the behavior of molecules, to create materials never seen before. It took no less than nine years for this team to develop this processor.
This crew of scientists is headed by quantum physics Michelle Simmons, founder of the company Silicon Quantum Computing, where they work; and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computing and Communications Technology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
As explained in an article published in the journal Nature, the researchers were able to simulate the structure and energy states of polyacetylene, an organic compound that forms a chain of carbon and hydrogen atoms that has a peculiar alternation of single and double carbon bonds. Polyacetylene is a well-known model and to replicate it, is to demonstrate that the computer correctly simulates the movement of electrons through the molecule.
The location of each quantum point needed to be the correct one so that the circuit could reproduce how electrons jump on a single and double bond carbon string on a polyacetylene molecule. According to the team, the most complicated part of the construction has been discovering how many phosphorus atoms should go in each quantum point, the exact separation distance from the points and the development of a machine that could place those small points at the exact one inside the silicon chip.
Moreover, if the points are too large, the interaction between the two of them becomes ‘too broad to control them independently’, according to researchers. And if they’re too small, randomness comes into play, because each additional phosphorus atom can dramatically change the amount of energy needed to add another electron to the point.
Moving on, the architecture of quantum computers allows scientists and academics to handle information at much higher speeds than traditional computers or even the most powerful supercomputers. A problem that takes a supercomputer 10,000 years to solve takes a quantum computer four minutes. But the discovery of the Australian researchers promises to further increase its capacity.
As we stated before, this new computational architecture opens the door to understanding the functioning of molecules at the atomic scale and, therefore, to the creation of new materials that we have never seen before. But not just that. For instance, quantum computing could help us find new energy sources. In line with the journal Science Alert, such a powerful system could unravel the process of artificial photosynthesis and help us understand how light is converted into chemical energy through a cluster of organic reactions. It also serves to create a new catalyst that brings us better fertilizers that need the use of less energy during their production.
All this could happen much sooner than we think. According to Simmons, the development of quantum computers follows a similar trajectory to that of classical computers. It was switched from the first transistor in 1947 to an integrated circuit in 1958, and then chips became part of calculators and other devices about five years later.
