Thursday, August 4, 2016

Quantum Computing Leap Closer to Reality with a Chemistry Breakthrough

Quantum computing closer with chemistry breakthrough






18 July 2016

The University of Sydney




Simple chemistry poised to unlock complex computer problems.












Quantum computing is a leap closer to reality with a chemistry breakthrough demonstrating it is possible for nanomaterials to operate at room temperature rather than at abolute zero experienced in deep space (-273C).

[caption id="attachment_826" align="aligncenter" width="611"]Quantum Computing Leap Closer to Reality with a Chemistry Breakthrough     Quantum Computing Leap Closer to Reality with a Chemistry Breakthrough[/caption]

"Chemistry gives us the power to create nanomaterials on demand."

- Dr. Dr Mohammad Choucair.

The key to quantum computing could be a simple as burning the active ingredient in moth balls; using this method, the holy grail of quantum computing – the ability to work in ‘real-world’ room temperatures – has been demonstrated by an international group of researchers, combining chemistry with quantum physics.

Co-led by Dr Mohammad Choucair – who recently finished a University of Sydney research fellowship gained as an outstanding early career researcher in the School of Chemistry – the 31-year-old has been working with collaborators in Switzerland and Germany for two years before the breakthrough.

The team has made a conducting carbon material that they demonstrated could be used to perform quantum computing at room temperature, rather than near absolute zero (-273°C).

The material is simply created by burning naphthalene; the ashes form the carbon material. Not only has it solved the question of temperature, it also addresses other issues such as the need for conductivity and the ability to integrate into silicon.

The results are published today in the high-impact journal Nature Communications.

Dr Choucair said the discovery meant as a result, practical quantum computing might be possible within a few years. “We have made quantum computing more accessible,” he said. “This work demonstrates the simple ad-hoc preparation of carbon-based quantum bits.

“Chemistry gives us the power to create nanomaterials on-demand that could form the basis of technologies like quantum computers and spintronics, combining to make more efficient and powerful machines.”

The next step is to build a prototyping chip – but Dr Choucair said he was particularly interested in the possibilities that could come from longer-term research. Rather than seeking comprehensive commercial opportunities, he plans to use the facilities at the University-based Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and further the work at its headquarters, the new $150m Sydney Nanoscience Hub.

Dr Choucair said he was passionate about improving technology for the public and supported open access research. “Quantum computing will allow us to advance our technology and our understanding of the natural world,” he said.

“Whether it’s designing drugs to cure cancer, cleaning our air or addressing our energy concerns, we need to build more complex computers to solve these complex problems.”

News Release Source : Quantum computing closer with chemistry breakthrough

Image Credit : The University of Sydney




Saturday, May 28, 2016

Australian Quantum Computing Scientist Got Top International Award

Top international award for quantum computing chief


For her world-leading research in the fabrication of atomic-scale devices for quantum computing, Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons has been awarded a prestigious Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology.

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Two international Feynman prizes, named in honour of the late Nobel Prize-winning American physicist Richard Feynman, are awarded each year in the categories of theory and experiment to researchers whose work has most advanced Feynman’s nanotechnology goal of molecular manufacturing.

Professor Simmons, director of the UNSW-based Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T), won the experimental prize from the Foresight Institute for her work in “the new field of atomic-electronics, which she created”.



By creating electronic devices atom by atom, we are gaining a very fundamental understanding of how the world behaves at the atomic scale, and it’s phenomenally exciting.




Her group is the only one in the world that can make atomically precise devices in silicon. They have produced the world’s first single-atom transistor as well as the narrowest conducting wires ever made in silicon, just four atoms of phosphorus wide and one atom high.

President of the Foresight Institute Julia Bossmann said the US $5000 prizes reward visionary research. “Our laureates realise that big innovation is possible on the nanoscale. The prizes acknowledge these pioneering scientists and inspire others to follow their lead.”

Professor Simmons said: “I am delighted to win this award. Feynman once said: ‘What I cannot create, I do not understand’.

“By creating electronic devices atom by atom, we are gaining a very fundamental understanding of how the world behaves at the atomic scale, and it’s phenomenally exciting,” she said.

As director of CQC2T, Professor Simmons heads a team of more than 180 researchers across six Australian universities, including UNSW. She has previously been awarded two Australian Research Council Federation Fellowships and currently holds a Laureate Fellowship.

She has won both the Australian Academy of Science’s Pawsey Medal (2005) and Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal (2015) for outstanding research in physics. She was named NSW Scientist of the Year in 2012, and in 2015 she was awarded the Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science.

In 2014, she had the rare distinction for an Australian researcher of becoming an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also editor-in-chief of the first Nature Partner Journal based in Australia, npj Quantum Information.

In April, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull opened new quantum computing laboratories at UNSW and praised Professor Simmons’ contribution to the nation as both a scientist and director of the CQC2T team.

“You’re not just doing great work, Michelle. You’re doing the best work in the world,” Mr Turnbull said. “It is a tribute to your leadership, your talent … that you’ve attracted so many outstanding scientists and engineers from around the world. This is a very global team and it’s right here at the University of New South Wales.”

The Forsight Institute is a leading think tank and public interest organisation focused on transformative future technologies. Founded in 1986, its mission is to discover and promote the upsides, and help avoid the drawbacks, of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and similar life-changing developments.

In 1959, Richard Feynman gave a visionary talk at the California Institute of Technology in which he said: “The problems of chemistry and biology can be greatly helped if our ability to see what we are doing, and to do things on an atomic level, is ultimately developed – a development which I think cannot be avoided.”

Both Feynman Prizes, which were announced overnight in the US, are for 2015. The theory prize was awarded to Professor Marcus Buehler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for developing new modelling, design and manufacturing approaches for advance materials with a wide range of controllable properties from the nanoscale to the macroscale.

News Release Source : Top international award for quantum computing chief

Image Credit : UNSW

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Australian Researchers Make Another Quantum Computing Breakthrough

Researchers test drive a new wave of supercomputers


University of Western Australia

Tuesday, 17 May 2016



Researchers from The University of Western Australia and the University of Bristol have made an exciting breakthrough in advancing a new wave of ‘supercomputers’ by testing an early prototype of a quantum computer.



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Quantum computers, still in their early stages of development, promise unprecedented computing power, with the ability to complete numerous tasks simultaneously, crack complex codes and solve difficult mathematical problems. They are expected to enable advancements in research and technology, help solve global problems, and make our lives more efficient.

Quantum computers work by using single photons, electrons and atoms, unlike traditional computers that use transistors implanted into a silicon chip. Information on traditional computers is stored in two states (0s or 1s), but on a quantum computer both states are used simultaneously, enabling much larger capabilities.

PhD student Thomas Loke, from UWA’s School of Physics, said the researchers worked to simulate a ‘quantum walk’, which enables information in the quantum computer to be manipulated and travel in many ways at the same time.

“The software I developed allowed the research team to test quantum walks and complete a complex algorithm on the computer, providing evidence that even an early prototype of the quantum computer can do more than a traditional computer,” Mr Loke said.

Mr Loke said it was the first experimental implementation of his quantum codes, and several more would follow.

“Building a large-scale quantum computer is one of the biggest global engineering challenges and this research has brought us one step closer in this significant advancement for global technology,” he said.

The research was published in Nature Communications

News Release Source : Researchers test drive a new wave of supercomputers

Image Credit : University of Western Australia

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Australian Prime Minister Hails UNSW's Quantum Computing Research as the World's Best

Opening: Prime Minister hails UNSW's quantum computing research as the world's best


UNSW
Friday, 22 April, 2016

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, accompanied by the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne, today opened a new quantum computing laboratory complex at UNSW

[caption id="attachment_802" align="aligncenter" width="5760"]Australian Prime Minister Hails UNSW's Quantum Computing Research as the World's Best www.quantumcomputingtechnologyaustralia.com-126 Australian Prime Minister Hails UNSW's Quantum Computing Research as the World's Best[/caption]

"There is no bolder idea than quantum computing," said Prime Minister Turnbull, hailing UNSW's research in the transformative technology as the “best work in the world".

He praised the leadership of Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons, director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) and congratulated the centre's team on their research breakthroughs.

"You're not just doing great work, Michelle, you're doing the best work in the world.

"You're not just solving the computing challenges and determining the direction of computing for Australia, you are leading the world and it is a tribute to your leadership, your talent ... that you've attracted so many outstanding scientists and engineers from around the world,” Mr Turnbull said.

"This is a very global team and it's right here at the University of New South Wales.”

The laboratories will double the productive capacity of the UNSW headquarters of the CQC2T.

They will also be used to advance development work to commercialise UNSW’s ground-breaking quantum computing research and establish Australia as an international leader in the industries of the future. The work has attracted major investment from the Australian Government, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra.

CQC2T is leading the international race to build the world’s first quantum computer in silicon.

The new laboratories, which have been funded by UNSW, will house six new scanning tunnelling microscopes, which can be used to manipulate individual atoms, as well as six cryogenic dilution refrigerators that can reach ultra-low temperatures close to absolute zero.

“The international race to build a super-powerful quantum computer has been described as the space race of the computing era,” said Professor Michelle Simmons.

“Our Australian centre’s unique approach using silicon has given us a two to three-year lead over the rest of the world. These facilities will enable us to stay ahead of the competition.”

The new labs will also be essential for UNSW researchers to capitalise on the commercial implications of their work.

In December 2015, as part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda, the Australian Government committed $26 million towards a projected $100 million investment to support the commercial development of UNSW’s research to develop a quantum computer in silicon.

Following the Australian Government’s announcement of support, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra each pledged $10 million for the development of a ten-qubit prototype. This prototype will be partly designed and built in the new facility.

“In addition to our fundamental research agenda, we now have an ambitious and targeted program to build a ten-qubit prototype quantum integrated circuit within five years,” said Professor Simmons. “By mapping the evolution of classical computing devices over the last century we would expect commercial quantum computing devices to appear within 5-10 years of that milestone.”

It is a prospect strongly endorsed by UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs.

“UNSW is committed to supporting world-leading research, and quantum computing is a key part of our future strategy. We are excited by the opportunities these new laboratories provide us to work jointly with industry and government.

“Our hope, long term, is that this will one day establish Australia as an international leader in one of the key industries of the future,” Professor Jacobs said.

Commonwealth Bank Chief Information Officer David Whiteing said: “Commonwealth Bank is proud to support the University of New South Wales' world-leading quantum computing research team and join the Australian Government in providing tangible support for their National Innovation and Science Agenda.

“In today’s world everyone relies increasingly on computers from those in the palm of our hand to the computers on our desk. Quantum computing is set to increase the speed and power of computing beyond what we can currently imagine. This is still some time in the future, but the time for investment is now. This type of long-term investment is a great example of how collaboration between universities, governments and industry will benefit the nation and our economy, now and into the future.”

Kate McKenzie, Telstra Chief Operations Officer, said that the opening of the new CQC2T laboratories was a significant milestone for science and innovation in Australia.

“In December 2015 we announced our proposed $10 million investment to help with development of silicon quantum computing technology in Australia with CQC2T. It’s an important part of Telstra’s commitment to help build a world class technology nation,” Ms McKenzie said.

“Quantum computing has huge potential globally, so I’m delighted to be here today to see this dynamic, world-leading program.”

Researchers at CQC2T lead the world in the engineering and control of individual atoms in silicon chips

The UNSW-based ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology is leading the global race to build the world’s first quantum computer in silicon.

In 2012, a team led by Professor Simmons, of the Faculty of Science, created the world’s first single‑atom transistor by placing a single phosphorus atom into a silicon crystal with atomic precision, achieving a technological milestone ten years ahead of industry predictions. Her team also produced the narrowest conducting wires ever made in silicon, just four atoms of phosphorus wide and one atom high.

In 2012, researchers led by Professor Andrea Morello, of the Faculty of Engineering, created the world’s first qubit based on the spin of a single electron on a single phosphorus atom embedded in silicon.

In 2014, his group then went on demonstrate that these qubits could be engineered to have the longest coherence times (greater than 30 seconds) and highest fidelities (>99.99%) in the solid state.

In 2013, Scientia Professor Sven Rogge, of the Faculty of Science, demonstrated the ability to optically address a single atom, a method that could allow the long-distance coupling of qubits.

And in 2015, researchers led by Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, of the Faculty of Engineering, built the first quantum logic gate in silicon – a device that makes calculations between two qubits of information possible. This clears one of the critical hurdles to making silicon-based quantum computers a reality.

More Information Links:

Backgrounder: Quantum computing at UNSW and timeline of major scientific and engineering advances

Backgrounder: New quantum computing laboratories at UNSW

News Release Source : Opening: Prime Minister hails UNSW's quantum computing research as the world's best

Image Credit : UNSW

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Australian Researchers Advance Towards Silicon Based Quantum Computer

Atoms placed precisely in silicon can act as quantum simulator


UNSW
22 APR 2016

Coinciding with the opening of a new quantum computing laboratory at UNSW by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, UNSW researchers have made another advance towards the development of a silicon-based quantum computer.

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Coinciding with the opening of a new quantum computing laboratory at UNSW by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, UNSW researchers have made another advance towards the development of a silicon-based quantum computer.

In a proof-of-principle experiment, they have demonstrated that a small group of individual atoms placed very precisely in silicon can act as a quantum simulator, mimicking nature – in this case, the weird quantum interactions of electrons in materials.


“Previously this kind of exact quantum simulation could not be performed without interference from the environment, which typically destroys the quantum state,” says senior author Professor Sven Rogge, Head of the UNSW School of Physics and program manager with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T).

“Our success provides a route to developing new ways to test fundamental aspects of quantum physics and to design new, exotic materials – problems that would be impossible to solve even using today’s fastest supercomputers.”

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. The lead author was UNSW’s Dr Joe Salfi and the team included CQC2T director Professor Michelle Simmons, other CQC2T researchers from UNSW and the University of Melbourne, as well as researchers from Purdue University in the US.


Two dopant atoms of boron only a few nanometres from each other in a silicon crystal were studied. They behaved like valence bonds, the “glue” that holds matter together when atoms with unpaired electrons in their outer orbitals overlap and bond.

The team’s major advance was in being able to directly measure the electron “clouds” around the atoms and the energy of the interactions of the spin, or tiny magnetic orientation, of these electrons.

They were also able to correlate the interference patterns from the electrons, due to their wave-like nature, with their entanglement, or mutual dependence on each other for their properties.

“The behaviour of the electrons in the silicon chip matched the behaviour of electrons described in one of the most important theoretical models of materials that scientists rely on, called the Hubbard model,” says Dr Salfi.

“This model describes the unusual interactions of electrons due to their wave-like properties and spins. And one of its main applications is to understand how electrons in a grid flow without resistance, even though they repel each other,” he says.

The team also made a counterintuitive find – that the entanglement of the electrons in the silicon chip increased the further they were apart.

“This demonstrates a weird behaviour that is typical of quantum systems,” says Professor Rogge.

“Our normal expectation is that increasing the distance between two objects will make them less, not more, dependent on each other.

“By making a larger set of dopant atoms in a grid in a silicon chip we could realise a vision first proposed in the 1980s by the physicist Richard Feynman of a quantum system that can simulate nature and help us understand it better,” he says.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Microsoft Supports Quantum Nanoscience Laboratory at Sydney University





Microsoft supports Sydney University quantum effort




20 April 2016




Scientists from Microsoft's quantum computing program visit the University of Sydney to launch AINST Share











The Quantum Nanoscience Laboratory at the University of Sydney, headed by Professor David Reilly, is among a small collection of labs worldwide that are collaborating with Microsoft on quantum computing by doing revolutionary engineering and physics.


Leading scientists and directors from Microsoft’s quantum computing program are visiting Australia to speak at the launch of the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology (AINST) and its headquarters, a new $150m building where electrons are manipulated at temperatures of just above -273.15C – colder than deep space.


For more than a decade, Microsoft has been undertaking theoretical quantum research through Station Q at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with an eye towards one day building a scalable universal quantum computer. Now the blue-sky investment is ramping up as the world’s largest software maker extends its efforts with experimental research that could usher in a new digital revolution.


A select and very small collection of labs worldwide are collaborating with Microsoft on quantum computing by doing revolutionary engineering and physics, including the Quantum Nanoscience Laboratory at the University of Sydney headed by Professor David Reilly – whose group is world-leading in understanding the interface between quantum physics and the grand engineering challenges of building reliable quantum machines.




Visiting Australia from Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, with a colleague from the Quantum Architectures and Computation group (QuArC), is distinguished scientist and Managing Director of MSR NexT: Special Projects Dr Norm Whitaker.

Dr Whitaker arrived in Sydney this week and was scheduled to spend a couple of days touring the new Sydney Nanoscience Hub – the first purpose-built facility for nanoscience in Australia co-funded with $40m from the Australian government – before addressing a meeting of leading businesses as part of the official launch proceedings.

"We are extremely pleased to have the University of Sydney as a partner on this journey," said Dr. Whitaker. "The group here represents the rare combination of world-class research abilities with a pragmatic, can-do enthusiasm."

Microsoft Research Station Q Director and Fields Medallist Michael Freedman said: “The Microsoft quantum program pushes to the very edge of physics and engineering in its goal of harnessing topological effects for computation.

“To succeed, we have made a worldwide search for the most dynamic and innovative collaborators; In David Reilly and his team at the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, we have found such a partner.”

As part of the work leading Station Q Sydney, Professor Reilly said his focus in the next few years would be to scale up, constructing specialised electronic systems that operate both at room and cryogenic temperatures and go well beyond the specifications of off-the-shelf technology.

“Building a quantum computer is a daunting challenge; it’s something that will only be realised in partnership with the world’s biggest technology companies and we’ve been fortunate to partner with Microsoft,” Professor Reilly said.

“To build a quantum computer you need more than just the [quantum] qubits; more than just the elementary constituents of matter – the electrons and so on. You also need a range of electronics and classical control technology that is pushing the limit of what’s available today.

“So we’ve been focusing on both aspects in parallel and our plan is over the next few years to see these classical and quantum streams meet up in order to be able to build quantum machines.”

University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence said: “Sydney’s membership in this highly exclusive international team represents a significant endorsement of our capacity in this area, focusing on long-term research, which can also have shorter-term spin-offs.”




Image Credit : Sydney University




Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Quantum Computing Closer as RMIT Finds a Pathway Towards The Quantum Data Bus

Quantum computing closer as RMIT drives towards first quantum data bus


RMIT researchers have trialled a quantum processor capable of routing quantum information from different locations, in a critical breakthrough for quantum computing.

RMIT University
19 Apr 2016

The work opens a pathway towards the “quantum data bus”, a vital component of future quantum technologies.

[caption id="attachment_775" align="aligncenter" width="560"]Quantum Computing Closer as RMITFinds a Pathway Towards The Quantum Data Bus www.quantumcomputingtechnologyaustralia.com-123                              Quantum Computing Closer as RMIT Finds a Pathway Towards The Quantum Data Bus[/caption]

The research team from the Quantum Photonics Laboratory at RMIT, Politecnico di Milano and the South University of Science and Technology of China have demonstrated for the first time the perfect state transfer of an entangled quantum bit (qubit) on an integrated photonic device.

Quantum Photonics Laboratory Director Dr Alberto Peruzzo said after more than a decade of global research in the specialised area, the RMIT results were highly anticipated.

“The perfect state transfer has emerged as a promising technique for data routing in large-scale quantum computers,” Peruzzo said.

“The last 10 years has seen a wealth of theoretical proposals but until now it has never been experimentally realised.

“Our device uses highly optimised quantum tunnelling to relocate qubits between distant sites.

“It’s a breakthrough that has the potential to open up quantum computing in the near future.”

The difference between standard computing and quantum computing is comparable to solving problems over an eternity compared to a short time.

“Quantum computers promise to solve vital tasks that are currently unmanageable on today’s standard computers and the need to delve deeper in this area has motivated a worldwide scientific and engineering effort to develop quantum technologies,” Peruzzo said.

“It could make the critical difference for discovering new drugs, developing a perfectly secure quantum Internet and even improving facial recognition.’’

Peruzzo said a key requirement for any information technology, along with processors and memories, is the ability to relocate data between locations.

Full scale quantum computers will contain millions, if not billions, of quantum bits (qubits) all interconnected, to achieve computational power undreamed of today.

While today’s microprocessors use data buses that route single bits of information, transferring quantum information is a far greater challenge due to the intrinsic fragility of quantum states.

“Great progress has been made in the past decade, increasing the power and complexity of quantum processors,” Peruzzo said.

Robert Chapman, an RMIT PhD student working on the experiment, said the protocol they developed could be implemented in large scale quantum computing architectures, where interconnection between qubits will be essential.

“We experimentally relocate qubits, encoded in single particles of light, between distant locations,” Chapman said.

“During the protocol, the fragile quantum state is maintained and, critically, entanglement is preserved, which is key for quantum computing.”

The research, Experimental Perfect State Transfer of an Entangled Photonic Qubit, has been published in Nature Communications.

News Release Source : Quantum computing closer as RMIT drives towards first quantum data bus

Image Credit : RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Russian Scientists Developed Russia’s First Two-Qubit Quantum Circuit

MIPT’s scientists develop Russia’s first two-qubit quantum circuit


MIPT
28-03-2016

A research group from MIPT’s Artificial Quantum System Laband Collective Use Center developed and tested Russia’s first superconducting two-qubit feedback-controlled circuit, an upgrade to qubit — the main component of future quantum computers — that was developed by MIPT’s scientists in 2015.




[caption id="attachment_768" align="aligncenter" width="694"]Russian Scientists Developed Russia’s First Two-Qubit Quantum Circuit www.quantumcomputingtechnologyaustralia.com-122                              Russian Scientists Developed Russia’s First Two-Qubit Quantum Circuit[/caption]

Modern computing components can only store one data bit at a time — 1 or 0. Qubits, as quantum objects that are in superposition of two states at a time, have the potential to store both. Moreover, they serve as an example of the so-called ‘quantum entanglement’, opening game-changing ways for data processing. A data machine made of thousands of qubits has the capacity to surpass the most powerful supercomputers in a large amount of computing tasks, such as cryptography, artificial intelligence and optimisation of complex systems.


A year ago a research group from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Institute of Solid State Physics RAS (ISSP RAS), National Institute of Science and Technology (MISIS) and Russian Quantum Center (RQC) developed Russia’s first qubit along with a parameter measuring circuit. The project success is largely based on active international collaboration. MIPT’s Artificial Quantum System Lab (AQS), headed by academic Oleg Astafiev, leads by example, within a year having established a strong and effective partnership with Royal Holloway, University of London, a leading institution in superconducting qubit research in the UK.


The two-qubit circuit is currently being developed and tested by Russian scientists from MIPT. “In the past 6 months the MIPT’s lab has done substantial and laborious work to organise the measuring process of superconducting qubits. Arguably, MIPT currently has the necessary infrastructure and human capacity to deliver on building advanced qubit systems”, comments Alexey Dmitriyev, a postgraduate at AQS.


Dmitry Negrov, Deputy Head at the Collective Use Center, says: ”We now are at the stage where system parameters are close to the designed conditions. The next step is to take vital measurements, such as coherence time and refine the qubit bonding. We aim to continue our work on these parameters in the future”.


According to Andrey Baturin, Head of Scientific Management at MIPT, quantum technology research is one of the long-term priorities on the institute’s research agenda. “The Artificial Quantum System Lab and Collective Use Center succeeded in obtaining unique equipment — modern lithographic machines and evaporation units for full-cycle production of qubits and, later, qubit systems; measuring equipment and ultra low temperature cryostats that allow us to work with qubits at the milli-Kelvin temperature range. Such low temperatures are essential due to the extreme fragility of quantum states that can easily fail from interaction with the outside environment”, says Baturin.


The development of two-qubit circuits is an important achievement that allows further field research and raises Russia’s stance in the global quantum computing race.


News Source Release : MIPT’s scientists develop Russia’s first two-qubit quantum circuit


Image Credit : Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology(MIPT)

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Australian Researchers Create a Quantum ‘Fredkin Gate’

Unlocking the gates to quantum computing


Griffith’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics
March 28, 2016

Researchers have overcome one of the key challenges to quantum computing by simplifying a complex quantum logic operation. They demonstrated this by experimentally realising a challenging circuit, the quantum Fredkin gate, for the first time.

[caption id="attachment_762" align="aligncenter" width="468"]Australian Researchers Create a Quantum ‘Fredkin Gate’ www.quantumcomputingtechnologyaustralia.com-121    Australian Researchers Create a Quantum ‘Fredkin Gate’[/caption]

“The allure of quantum computers is the unparalleled processing power that they provide compared to current technology,” saidDr Raj Patel from Griffith’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics.

“Much like our everyday computer, the brains of a quantum computer consist of chains of logic gates, although quantum logic gates harness quantum phenomena.”

The main stumbling block to actually creating a quantum computer has been in minimising the number of resources needed to efficiently implement processing circuits.

“Similar to building a huge wall out lots of small bricks, large quantum circuits require very many logic gates to function. However, if larger bricks are used the same wall could be built with far fewer bricks,” said Dr Patel.

In an experiment involving researchers from Griffith University and the University of Queensland, it was demonstrated how to build larger quantum circuits in a more direct way without using small logic gates.

At present, even small and medium scale quantum computer circuits cannot be produced because of the requirement to integrate so many of these gates into the circuits. One example is the Fredkin (controlled- SWAP) gate. This is a gate where two qubits are swapped depending on the value of the third.

Usually the Fredkin gate requires implementing a circuit of five logic operations. The research team used the quantum entanglement of photons – particles of light – to implement the controlled-SWAP operation directly.

“There are quantum computing algorithms, such as Shor’s algorithm for finding prime factors, that require the controlled-SWAP operation,” said Professor Tim Ralph from the University of Queensland.

The quantum Fredkin gate can also be used to perform a direct comparison of two sets of qubits (quantum bits) to determine whether they are the same or not. This is not only useful in computing but is an essential feature of some secure quantum communication protocols where the goal is to verify that two strings, or digital signatures, are the same.”

Professor Geoff Pryde, from Griffith’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics, is the project’s chief investigator.

“What is exciting about our scheme is that it is not limited to just controlling whether qubits are swapped, but can be applied to a variety of different operations opening up ways to control larger circuits efficiently,” said Professor Pryde.

“This could unleash applications that have so far been out of reach.”

The team is part of the Australian Research Council’s Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, an effort to exploit Australia’s strong expertise in developing quantum information technologies.

News Release Source : Unlocking the gates to quantum computing

Image Credit : Griffith’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics

Thursday, March 17, 2016

New Discovery Helps to Put Quantum Computers within Closer Reach

New strategy helps quantum bits stay on task


Findings published today in Nature may advance the era of quantum computers.

16 March 2016

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

MagLab scientists have demonstrated a way to improve the performance of the powerful but persnickety building blocks of quantum computers (called quantum bits, or qubits) by reducing interference from the environment.

[caption id="attachment_757" align="aligncenter" width="665"]New Discovery Helps to Put Quantum Computers within Closer Reach www.quantumcomputingtechnologyaustralia.com-120 New Discovery Helps to Put Quantum Computers within Closer Reach[/caption]

Published today in the prominent journal Nature, this interdisciplinary collaboration between physicists and chemists may hasten the development of quantum computers.

Quantum computers are one of the holy grails of modern applied physics. Compared to today's computers, which rely on transistors to process "bits" of information in the form of binary 0s or 1s, quantum computers hold the promise of performing certain computational tasks exponentially faster. Their power could potentially dwarf that of today's machines, with huge implications for cryptography, computational chemistry and other fields.

Such astounding feats are possible only in the "quantum" world of atoms and sub-atomic particles, where the physical rules governing how things behave are quite different from those of the "classical" world we live in. But the quantum phenomena that make quantum computers feasible are also the very reason they are extremely challenging to build.

That's the paradoxical nut that a team of scientists, including physicists Dorsa Komijani and Stephen Hill, director of the MagLab's Electron Magnetic Resonance Facility, has spent years attacking. And while they have not broken that nut open entirely, they have made an important crack.

To understand their crack, it helps to first know a few basics about quantum mechanics.

While qubits can take many different forms, the MagLab team worked with carefully designed tungsten oxide molecules that contained a single magnetic holmium ion. The magnetic electrons associated with each holmium ion circulate either clockwise or counterclockwise around the axis of the molecule. These so-called spin states are analogous to the "0s" and "1s" of the computer you may be reading this on. But because we're in the quantum world, there's a bonus: the qubit can be in both the 0 and 1 states at the same time in what is termed a quantum superposition — a kind of heaven for decision-averse wafflers. In this case, the superposition involves a mix of the two spin states, with a spectrum of almost infinite possibilities between the fully clockwise and fully counterclockwise states. This is where the added computational power comes from.

Magnetic qubits can also interact with each other over relatively large distances using their magnetic fields, a phenomenon known as entanglement. In a useful quantum computer, large numbers of entangled qubits would perform in perfect unison. Unfortunately, the real world is full of magnetic disturbances (physicists call this "noise") that can also become entangled with the qubits, interfering with the calculations. It's like being interrupted when you're trying to do complex arithmetic in your head and having to start over. This breakdown is called "decoherence."

In the Nature paper, the MagLab team describes a new way to significantly reduce this decoherence in magnetic molecules.

It turns out that chemists can assemble molecules with special spin states that, when placed in a magnetic field, are immune to magnetic disturbances, similar to the way noise-canceling headphones allow you to listen to your favorite music in high fidelity. This sweet spot that allows qubits to interact without interference is called an atomic clock transition, or ACT. Atomic clocks rely on the same quantum physics principle to remain accurate.

The MagLab team was able to keep its holmium qubit working coherently for 8.4 microseconds — long enough for it to potentially perform useful computational tasks.

"I know 8.4 microseconds doesn't seem like a big deal," said Komijani. "But in molecular magnets, it is a big deal, because it's very, very long. But the important point is not the long coherence time; it's the approach that we used to get to this coherence time."

Now that the MagLab team has shown that ACTs can be used as a mechanism to make quantum computers work, it's up to chemists to tweak more molecules so that they are capable, under the right conditions, of creating a coherence sweet spot for qubits.

"That's why this is important," said Komijani. "We're saying, ‘See, we found this capability in molecular magnets. Now you guys, you chemists, go ahead and make stuff that has this capability so we can find the atomic clock transitions.'"

The Nature paper is part of a larger research effort expected to yield additional publications.

"We're just contributing a tiny, tiny amount of research," said Komijani. "But it's important because it's saying that you can play around with your qubit by changing the magnetic field it's in and moving from where the coherence is very low to the sweet spot, where it's very high."

The other contributors on the Nature paper are Muhandis Shiddiq, a postdoctoral associate in physics at the Technical University in Dortmund, Germany, and former MagLab grad student who is joint first author (with Komijani) on the study; and chemists Yan Duan, Alejandro Gaita-Ariño and Eugenio Coronado, all of the Institute of Molecular Science in Valencia, Spain.

News Release Source : New strategy helps quantum bits stay on task

Image Credit : National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab)

Thursday, March 10, 2016

The Optical Chip Simultaneously Generate Multiphoton Qubits

INRS takes giant step forward in generating optical qubits


The optical chip developed at INRS by Prof. Roberto Morandotti’s team overcomes a number of obstacles in the development of quantum computers, which are expected to revolutionize information processing. The international research team has demonstrated that on-chip quantum frequency combs can be used to simultaneously generate multiphoton entangled quantum bit (qubit) states.

10/03/2016

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE - INRS

Quantum computing differs fundamentally from classical computing, in that it is based on the generation and processing of qubits.Unlike classical bits, which can have a state of either 1 or 0, qubits allow a superposition of the 1 and 0 states (both simultaneously).Strikingly, multiple qubits can be linked in so-called ‘entangled’ states, where the manipulation of a single qubit changes the entire system, even if individual qubits are physically distant.This property is the basis for quantum information processing, aiming towards building superfast quantum computers and transferring information in a completely secure way.

[caption id="attachment_751" align="aligncenter" width="640"]The Optical Chip Simultaneously Generate Multiphoton Qubits www.quantumcomputingtechnologyaustralia.com-119             The Optical Chip Simultaneously Generate Multiphoton Qubits[/caption]

Professor Morandotti has focused his research efforts on the realization of quantum components compatible with established technologies.The chip developed by his team was designed to meet numerous criteria for its direct use:it is compact, inexpensive to make, compatible with electronic circuits, and uses standard telecommunication frequencies.It is also scalable, an essential characteristic if it is to serve as a basis for practical systems.But the biggest technological challenge is the generation of multiple, stable, and controllable entangled qubit states.

The generation of qubits can rely on several different approaches, includingelectron spins, atomic energy levels, and photon quantum states. Photons have the advantage of preserving entanglement over long distances and time periods.But generating entangled photon states in a compact and scalable way is difficult.“What is most important, several such states have to be generated simultaneously if we are to arrive at practical applications,” added INRS research associate Dr. Michael Kues.

Roberto Morandotti’s team tackled this challenge by using on-chip optical frequency combs for the first time to generate multiple entangled qubit states of light.As Michael Kues explains, optical frequency combs are light sources comprised of many equally-spaced frequency modes.“Frequency combs are extraordinarily precise sources and have already revolutionized metrology and sensing, as well as earning their discoverers the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics.”


Thanks to these integrated quantum frequency combs, the chip developed by INRS is able to generate entangled multi-photon qubit states over several hundred frequency modes.It is the first time anyone has demonstrated the simultaneous generation of qubit multi-photon and two-photon entangled states:Until now, integrated systems developed by other research teams had only succeeded in generating individual two-photon entangled states on a chip.

The results published in Science will provide a foundation for new research, both in integrated quantum photonics and quantum frequency combs.This could revolutionize optical quantum technologies, while at the same time maintaining compatibility with existing semiconductor chip technology.

News Release Source : INRS takes giant step forward in generating optical qubits

Image Credit : INRS

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Quantum Computers Begin to End The Traditional Encryption Schemes?

The beginning of the end for encryption schemes?


New quantum computer, based on five atoms, factors numbers in a scalable way.

MIT
March 3, 2016

What are the prime factors, or multipliers, for the number 15? Most grade school students know the answer — 3 and 5 — by memory. A larger number, such as 91, may take some pen and paper. An even larger number, say with 232 digits, can (and has) taken scientists two years to factor, using hundreds of classical computers operating in parallel.

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Because factoring large numbers is so devilishly hard, this “factoring problem” is the basis for many encryption schemes for protecting credit cards, state secrets, and other confidential data. It’s thought that a single quantum computer may easily crack this problem, by using hundreds of atoms, essentially in parallel, to quickly factor huge numbers.

In 1994, Peter Shor, the Morss Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT, came up with a quantum algorithm that calculates the prime factors of a large number, vastly more efficiently than a classical computer. However, the algorithm’s success depends on a computer with a large number of quantum bits. While others have attempted to implement Shor’s algorithm in various quantum systems, none have been able to do so with more than a few quantum bits, in a scalable way.

Now, in a paper published today in the journal Science, researchers from MIT and the University of Innsbruck in Austria report that they have designed and built a quantum computer from five atoms in an ion trap. The computer uses laser pulses to carry out Shor’s algorithm on each atom, to correctly factor the number 15. The system is designed in such a way that more atoms and lasers can be added to build a bigger and faster quantum computer, able to factor much larger numbers. The results, they say, represent the first scalable implementation of Shor’s algorithm.

“We show that Shor’s algorithm, the most complex quantum algorithm known to date, is realizable in a way where, yes, all you have to do is go in the lab, apply more technology, and you should be able to make a bigger quantum computer,” says Isaac Chuang, professor of physics and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. “It might still cost an enormous amount of money to build — you won’t be building a quantum computer and putting it on your desktop anytime soon — but now it’s much more an engineering effort, and not a basic physics question.”

Seeing through the quantum forest

In classical computing, numbers are represented by either 0s or 1s, and calculations are carried out according to an algorithm’s “instructions,” which manipulate these 0s and 1s to transform an input to an output. In contrast, quantum computing relies on atomic-scale units, or “qubits,” that can be simultaneously 0 and 1 — a state known as a superposition. In this state, a single qubit can essentially carry out two separate streams of calculations in parallel, making computations far more efficient than a classical computer.

In 2001, Chuang, a pioneer in the field of quantum computing, designed a quantum computer based on one molecule that could be held in superposition and manipulated with nuclear magnetic resonance to factor the number 15. The results, which were published in Nature, represented the first experimental realization of Shor’s algorithm. But the system wasn’t scalable; it became more difficult to control the system as more atoms were added.

“Once you had too many atoms, it was like a big forest — it was very hard to control one atom from the next one,” Chuang says. “The difficulty is to implement [the algorithm] in a system that’s sufficiently isolated that it can stay quantum mechanical for long enough that you can actually have a chance to do the whole algorithm.”

“Straightforwardly scalable”

Chuang and his colleagues have now come up with a new, scalable quantum system for factoring numbers efficiently. While it typically takes about 12 qubits to factor the number 15, they found a way to shave the system down to five qubits, each represented by a single atom. Each atom can be held in a superposition of two different energy states simultaneously. The researchers use laser pulses to perform “logic gates,” or components of Shor’s algorithm, on four of the five atoms. The results are then stored, forwarded, extracted, and recycled via the fifth atom, thereby carrying out Shor’s algorithm in parallel, with fewer qubits than is typically required.

The team was able to keep the quantum system stable by holding the atoms in an ion trap, where they removed an electron from each atom, thereby charging it. They then held each atom in place with an electric field.

“That way, we know exactly where that atom is in space,” Chuang explains. “Then we do that with another atom, a few microns away — [a distance] about 100th the width of a human hair. By having a number of these atoms together, they can still interact with each other, because they’re charged. That interaction lets us perform logic gates, which allow us to realize the primitives of the Shor factoring algorithm. The gates we perform can work on any of these kinds of atoms, no matter how large we make the system.”

Chuang’s team first worked out the quantum design in principle. His colleagues at the University of Innsbruck then built an experimental apparatus based on his methodology. They directed the quantum system to factor the number 15 — the smallest number that can meaningfully demonstrate Shor’s algorithm. Without any prior knowledge of the answers, the system returned the correct factors, with a confidence exceeding 99 percent.

“In future generations, we foresee it being straightforwardly scalable, once the apparatus can trap more atoms and more laser beams can control the pulses,” Chuang says. “We see no physical reason why that is not going to be in the cards.”

Mark Ritter, senior manager of physical sciences at IBM, says the group’s method of recycling qubits reduces the resources required in the system by a factor of 3 — a significant though small step towards scaling up quantum computing.

“Improving the state-of-the-art by a factor of 3 is good,” says Ritter. But truly scaling the system “requires orders of magnitude more qubits, and these qubits must be shuttled around advanced traps with many thousands of simultaneous laser control pulses.”

If the team can successfully add more quantum components to the system, Ritter says it will have accomplished a long-unrealized feat.

“Shor's algorithm was the first non-trivial quantum algorithm showing a potential of ‘exponential’ speed-up over classical algorithms,” Ritter says. “It captured the imagination of many researchers who took notice of quantum computing because of its promise of truly remarkable algorithmic acceleration. Therefore, to implement Shor's algorithm is comparable to the ‘Hello, World’ of classical computing.”

What will all this eventually mean for encryption schemes of the future?

“Well, one thing is that if you are a nation state, you probably don’t want to publicly store your secrets using encryption that relies on factoring as a hard-to-invert problem,” Chuang says. “Because when these quantum computers start coming out, you’ll be able to go back and unencrypt all those old secrets.”

News Source Release : The beginning of the end for encryption schemes?

Thursday, February 25, 2016

New Invention Revolutionizes Quantum-Limited Heat Conduction

New invention revolutionises heat transport



01.02.2016

Aalto University, Finland


Scientists at Aalto University have succeeded in transporting heat maximally effectively ten thousand times further than ever before.




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Heat conduction is a fundamental physical phenomenon utilised, for example, in clothing, housing, car industry, and electronics. Thus our day-to-day life is inevitably affected by major shocks in this field. The research group, led by quantum physicist Mikko Möttönen has now made one of these groundbreaking discoveries. This new invention revolutionizes quantum-limited heat conduction which means as efficient heat transport as possible from point A to point B. This is great news especially for the developers of quantum computers.

Quantum technology is still a developing research field, but its most promising application is the super-efficient quantum computer. In the future, it can solve problems that a normal computer can never crack. The efficient operation of a quantum computer requires that it can be cooled down efficiently. At the same time, a quantum computer is prone to errors due to external noise.

Möttönen’s innovation may be utilised in cooling quantum processors very efficiently and so cleverly that the operation of the computer is not disturbed.

”Our research started already in 2011 and advanced little by little. It feels really great to achieve a fundamental scientific discovery that has real practical applications”, Professor Mikko Möttönen rejoices.

Important ideas

In the QCD Labs in Finland, Möttönen’s research group succeeded in measuring quantum-limited heat transport over distances up to a meter. A meter doesn’t sound very long at first, but previously scientists have been able to measure such heat transport only up to distances comparable to the thickness of a human hair.

“For computer processors, a meter is an extremely long distance. Nobody wants to build a larger processor than that”, stresses Möttönen.

The discovery is so important, that it will be published on February 1st, 2016 in Nature Physics which is the most prestigious scientific journal in physics.

The key idea in their research was to use photons to transfer the heat. Photons are particles that, for example, form the visible light. Previously scientists have used, for example, electrons as the heat carriers.

”We know that photons can transport heat over long distances. In fact, they bring the heat of the Sun to the Earth”, Möttönen says.

The team came up with the idea to use a transmission line with no electrical resistance to transport the photons. This superconducting line was built on a silicon chip with the size of a square centimeter. Tiny resistors were placed at the ends of the transmission line. The research results were obtained by measuring induced changes in the temperatures of these resistors.

New physics

The Quantum Computing and Devices (QCD) group led by Prof. Möttönen was able to show that quantum-limited heat conduction is possible over long distances. The result enables the application of this phenomenon outside laboratories. Thus the device built by the team fundamentally changes how heat conduction can be utilized in practice.

Möttönen’s previous research results have also been praised in the scientific community as well as the media. He has published articles in top journals, such as Nature and Science. However, there is a reason why this new discovery feels even better than previous breakthroughs:

”The research has been fully carried out in my lab by my staff. This really makes me feel like I hit the jackpot”, Möttönen rejoices.

The previous record for heat conduction was held by a research group led by Professor Jukka Pekola from Aalto University. This work was published in Nature in 2006.

Research article:

Matti Partanen, Kuan Yen Tan, Joonas Govenius, Russell E. Lake, Miika K. Mäkelä, Tuomo Tanttu, and Mikko Möttönen,

"Quantum-limited heat conduction over macroscopic distances",

Nature Physics, DOI: 10.1038/nphys3642

Link to the article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys3642

News Release Source :  New invention revolutionises heat transport

Image Credit : Aalto University, Finland

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Australian Government Invested A$26 million for Development of Advanced Quantum Computing

A$26 million for development of advanced quantum computing


12 Feb 2016

The Australian Government recently announced an investment of A$26 million over five years to support the development of advanced quantum computingin Australia.

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The funding, part of the new National Innovation & Science Agenda initiative, is being given to the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communications Technology (CQC2T) at the University of New South Wales (NSW).

The Centre is at the forefront of the race to build the world’s first functioning quantum computer.

In classic computing, information is represented in one of two states, either zero or one. In quantum computing, information can be stored in a large number of different states at the same time, meaning that quantum computers will have the astonishing potential to solve in minutes problems that now take conventional computers hundreds of years to process.

In October last year, the team at CQC2T announced a major quantum computing breakthrough, which was reported around the world. The NSW scientists found a way to incorporate quantum computing technology into silicon-based computer chips.

A significant advance and widely regarded, this has been reported as the first step in developing a practical quantum computing system because silicon, the building block of modern electronic devices, is cheap, easy to manufacture, and already widely available.

Quantum computing will have a transformational effect on the world as we know it today: the capacity to find information at lightning speed within a massive dataset will be a game changer in many fields, including aeronautics, finance, information technology, medicine and security.

‘It’s the space race of the computing era,’ says Professor Michelle Simmons, Director of the CQC2T at the University of New South Wales.

News Release Source : A$26 million for development of advanced quantum computing

Image Credit : UNSW

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Scientists Created First Quantum Knot

Quantum knots are real


18.01.2016

Aalto University, Finland
The very first experimental observations of knots in quantum matter have just been reported in Nature Physics.

The scientists at Aalto University (Finland) and Amherst College (USA) created knotted solitary waves, or knot solitons, in the quantum-mechanical field describing a gas of superfluid atoms, also known as a Bose–Einstein condensate.

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In contrast to knotted ropes, the created quantum knots exist in a field that assumes a certain direction at every point of space. The field segregates into an infinite number of linked rings, each with its own field direction. The resulting structure is topologically stable as it cannot be separated without breaking the rings. In other words, one cannot untie the knot within the superfluid unless one destroys the state of the quantum matter.

– To make this discovery we exposed a Rubidium condensate to rapid changes of a specifically tailored magnetic field, tying the knot in less than a thousandth of a second. After we learned how to tie the first quantum knot, we have become rather good at it. Thus far, we have tied several hundred such knots, says Professor David Hall, Amherst College.

The scientists tied the knot by squeezing the structure into the condensate from its outskirts. This required them to initialize the quantum field to point in a particular direction, after which they suddenly changed the applied magnetic field to bring an isolated null point, at which the magnetic field vanishes, into the center of the cloud. Then they just waited for less than a millisecond for the magnetic field to do its trick and tie the knot.

–For decades, physicists have been theoretically predicting that it should be possible to have knots in quantum fields, but nobody else has been able to make one. Now that we have seen these exotic beasts, we are really excited to study their peculiar properties. Importantly, our discovery connects to a diverse set of research fields including cosmology, fusion power, and quantum computers, says research group leaderMikko Möttönen, Aalto University.

Knots have been used and appreciated by human civilizations for thousands of years. For example, they have enabled great seafaring expeditions and inspired intricate designs and patterns. The ancient Inca civilization used a system of knots known as quipu to store information. In modern times, knots have been thought to play important roles in the quantum-mechanical foundations of nature, although they have thus far remained unseen in quantum dynamics.

In everyday life, knots are typically tied on ropes or strings with two ends. However, these kinds of knots are not what mathematicians call topologically stable since they can be untied without cutting the rope. In stable knots, the ends of the ropes are glued together. Such knots can be relocated within the rope but cannot be untied without scissors.

Mathematically speaking, the created quantum knot realizes a mapping referred to as Hopf fibration that was discovered by Heinz Hopf in 1931. The Hopf fibration is still widely studied in physics and mathematics. Now it has been experimentally demonstrated for the first time in a quantum field.

–This is the beginning of the story of quantum knots. It would be great to see even more sophisticated quantum knots to appear such as those with knotted cores. Also it would be important to create these knots in conditions where the state of the quantum matter would be inherently stable. Such system would allow for detailed studies of the stability of the knot itself, says Mikko Möttönen.

News Release Source : Quantum knots are real

Image Credit : Aalto University, Finland

The research article  Link : “Tying Quantum Knots”, Nature Physics