Microsoft has introduced its first quantum computing chip “Majorana 1” on Wednesday. The chip claims to make use of a new topological core architecture which would help realize quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, rather than in decades.
Majorana 1 makes use of the world’s first topoconductor—a new category of material that can create a new state of matter— using the Majorana particle, a unique type of particle that is own antiparticle.
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According to Microsoft, the machine is based on “gate-defined devices” combining the semiconductor indium arsenide with aluminum—a superconductor. Once the topoconductor’s temperature is lowered to near absolute zero (about -400 degrees Fahrenheit) and tuned to magnetic fields, the devices “form topological superconducting nanowires with Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs) at the wires’ ends.”
“We took a step back and said ‘OK, let’s invent the transistor for the quantum age. What properties does it need to have?’” said Chetan Nayak, Microsoft technical fellow.
“And that’s really how we got here – it’s the particular combination, the quality and the important details in our new materials stack that have enabled a new kind of qubit and ultimately our entire architecture.”
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The topoconductor is harnessed to produce a more stable qubit that is fast, small and can be digitally controlled, without the tradeoffs required by current alternatives. A new paper published Wednesday in Nature outlines how Microsoft researchers were able to create the topological qubit’s exotic quantum properties and also accurately measure them, an essential step for practical computing.
Technologists believe quantum computers can solve problems that would be taxing if not impossible for classical computers. Today’s computers use bits that can be either on or off while quantum computers employ quantum bits, or qubits, that can operate in both states simultaneously. Google and IBM have previously developed quantum computers, as have smaller companies like IonQ and Rigetti Computing.