A quantum computer has created a strange particle that can remember its past.
Quantinuum said on Tuesday that its System Model H2 Quantum computer — the most capable quantum computer ever built, powered by Honeywell — had created non-abelian topological quantum matter and braided its anyon for the first time.
The company explained that one of the first experiments carried out on H2, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University and Caltech, demonstrated a new state of matter, a non-abelian topologically ordered state.
“For anyone who thought that quantum computers capable of pushing the boundaries of human knowledge and scientific progress are still a long way off, today marks a turning point,” CEO Rajeeb Hazra said in a statement. “A team of world-renowned scientists have used Quantinuum’s H2 quantum computer to achieve something that was not possible before.”
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Signage outside the Honeywell Quantum Computer Lab in Broomfield, Colorado on October 14, 2020. (David Williams/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Quantum computing is a technology that exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers.
This particle, called anyon, was theorized by physicists decades ago.
Quasiparticles, a concept the Department of Energy says helps scientists describe the patterns that emerge when subatomic particles interact in large numbers, are collective excitations of many electrons in solid-state devices.
They can form in two-dimensional systems, while fermions and bosons are the only two categories of particles encountered daily in the world, according to Dmitri Feldman of Brown University.
Signage for the California Institute of Technology stands on the campus in Pasadena, California, July 9, 2013. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Anyons are classified as abelian or non-abelian.
Non-abelian anyons could store quantum information without the need for error correction and retain a “memory” of their relative positions in the past. Feldman said they have properties that could be used for topological quantum memory.
Quantum memories store the quantum state of a photon – light is made up of photons – or another entangled particle without destroying that particle’s quantum information. Quantum memory devices can store quantum data like conventional computer memories store information as binary states.
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The statue of John Harvard on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“A quantum memory is a small quantum computer that can capture and store quantum bits that are encoded into photons without measuring them, because measuring them would destroy any entanglement they have. The stored quantum bits can be processed and re-encoded into photons if needed ,” David Levonian, a quantum research scientist at the AWS Center for Quantum Networking, previously told Phys.org.
Quantum bits are also called qubits and are the basis of quantum computers.
The Department of Energy explained that braiding involves one quasi-particle looping around the other. Fermions and bosons retain no memory of a loop, but researchers can use braiding to alter the quantum state of anyons, meaning they retain memory of their loops.
“Many anyon systems can build collective memories that can serve as the basis for a quantum computing approach called ‘topological quantum computing.’ which allows for greater fidelity,” he said.
Quantinuum wrote that the controlled creation and manipulation of non-abelian anyons leading to topological qubits marks a “significant step towards fault-tolerant universal quantum computing”.
President Biden looks at a quantum computer as he tours IBM facilities in Poughkeepsie, NY on October 6, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
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Universal means that arbitrary quantum calculations can be performed and fault-tolerant means that the quantum logic gates used in the design of a quantum computer prevent errors from cascading out of control.
Quantinuum President and COO Tony Uttley said “the implications for society are significant.”
“With our second-generation system, we are entering a new phase in quantum computing,” he remarked. “H2 highlights the opportunity to obtain valuable results that are only possible with a quantum computer. The development of the H2 processor is also a critical step in the transition to fault-tolerant universal quantum computing.
