Microsoft says he created a new state of matter to feed quantum computer

Redmond (USA) – Anyone who has watched a third grade science class knows that there are three primary states of the subject: solid, liquid and gaseous.

Now Microsoft claims to have created a new state of matter in its search to develop a powerful machine, called a quantum computer that could accelerate everything from batteries to medicines and artificial intelligence.

On Wednesday (19), Microsoft scientists said they built what is known as a “topological qubit” based on this new phase of physical existence, which could be used to solve mathematical, scientific and technological problems.

With this development, Microsoft is raising betting on what is about to be the next major technology race, as well as the current dispute over artificial intelligence. Scientists pursue the dream of a quantum computer – a machine that could explore the strange and extremely powerful behavior of subatomic particles or very cold objects – since the 1980s.

The pressure increased in December, when Google revealed an experimental quantum computer that needed only five minutes to complete a calculation that most supercomputers could not finish in 10 septilions of years – longer than the age of the known universe.

Microsoft’s quantum technology could exceed development methods on Google. As part of its research, the company has built multiple topological quibits within a new type of computer chip that combines semiconductor forces that feed classic computers with superconductors that are typically used to build a quantum computer.

When such a chip is cold to extremely low temperatures, it behaves unusual and powerfully that Microsoft believes that they will allow technological, mathematicians and scientific problems that classic machines have never achieved. Technology is not as volatile as other quantum technologies, the company said, making it easier to explore its power.

Some question whether Microsoft really reached this milestone, and many prominent academics said that quantum computers would not be fully performed for decades. But Microsoft scientists said their methods would help them reach the finish line earlier.

“We see this as something that is years away, not decades,” said Chetan Nayak, one from Microsoft who led the team that built the technology.

Microsoft’s technology, which was detailed in a research article published in the scientific journal on Wednesday, gives a new boost to a race that can reshape the technological panorama. In addition to accelerating progress in many technological and scientific fields, a quantum computer could be powerful enough to break the encryption that protects national secrets.

Any advances are about to have geopolitical implications. Even while the United States exploits quantum computing mainly through corporations such as Microsoft and a wave of startups, the Chinese government has said it is investing $ 15.2 billion in technology. The European Union compromised $ 7.2 billion.

Quantum computing, which is based on decades of research in a type of physics called quantum mechanics, is still an experimental technology. But after recent advances from Microsoft, Google and others, scientists are confident that technology will eventually fulfill their promise.

“Quantum computing is an exciting perspective for physics and the world,” said Frank Wilczek, a theorist physicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

To understand quantum computing, it helps to know how a traditional computer works. A smartphone, laptop or table pc depends on small semiconductor chips, which are materials that conduct electricity in some, but not in all situations. These chips store and process numbers, adding them, multiplying them and so on. They perform these calculations by manipulating “bits” of information. Each bit contains a 1 or 0.

A quantum computer operates differently. A quantum bit, or qubit, depends on the curious behavior of subatomic particles or exotic materials cold to extremely low temperatures.

When it is extremely small or extremely cold, a single object can behave like two separate objects at the same time. By taking advantage of this behavior, scientists can build a qubit that maintains a combination of 1 and 0. This means that two quibits can maintain four values ​​at the same time. And as the number of quibits grows, a quantum computer becomes exponentially more powerful.

Companies use a variety of techniques to build these machines. In the United States, most, including Google, builds quibits using superconductors, which are materials that conduct electricity without losing the energy they are transmitting. They create these superconductors cooling metals to extremely low temperatures.

Microsoft has bet on an approach that few others are adopting: combine semiconductors with superconductors. The basic principle-along with the topological name-was first proposed in 1997 by Alexei Kitaev, a Russian American physicist.

The company started working on this unusual project in the early 2000s, when many researchers did not think such technology was possible. It is Microsoft’s most enduring research project.

“This is something that all three CEOs in this company bet,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, in an interview. (The previous CEOs of the company were Bill Gates, one of the founders, and Steve Ballmer, who directed Microsoft in the early 2000s.)

The company has now created a single device that is part of Indian arsenieto (a type of semiconductor) and aluminum part (a low -temperature superconductor). When cold about 400 degrees below zero, it displays a type of supernatural behavior that can make computers quantum possible.

Philip Kim, a physics professor at Harvard University, said Microsoft’s new creation is significant because topological quibits could accelerate the development of quantum computers. “If all goes well, Microsoft’s research can be revolutionary,” he said.

But Jason Alicea, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology, wondered if the company really built a topological qubit, saying that the behavior of quantum systems is often difficult to prove.

“A topological qubit is possible in principle, and people agree that it is a valid goal,” said Alicea. “You need to check, however, if a device behaves in all the magic ways the theory provides; Otherwise, reality may end up being less promising for quantum computing. Fortunately, Microsoft is now prepared to try. ”