A quantum computer has created a strange particle that can remember its past.
Quantinuum said Tuesday that its System Model H2 Quantum computer — the highest-performing 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 one of the first experiments conducted on H2, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University and Caltech, had demonstrated a new state of matter, a non-Abelian topologically ordered state.
“For anyone who thought that quantum computers that are able to push forward the boundaries of human knowledge and scientific progress are still in the far distance, today marks a turning point,” CEO Rajeeb Hazra said in a release. “A world-leading team of scientists have used Quantinuum’s H2 quantum computer to achieve something that was previously not possible.”
Quantum computing is a technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers.
Physicists theorized this particle called an “anyon” decades ago.
“A Quantum Memory is a quantum computer which can store and capture quantum bits encoded as photons, without measuring the particles. This would cause them to lose their entanglement. David Levonian is a quantum researcher at AWS’ Center for Quantum networking. He told Phys.org that the stored quantum bits could be processed, and if needed, reencoded into photons.
Quantum bits are also known as qubits and are the basis of quantum computers.
The Department of Energy explained that braiding involves one quasiparticle looping around the other. Fermions and bosons retain no memory of a loop, but researchers can use braiding to change the quantum state of anyons, meaning they retain memories of their loops.
“Many systems of anyons can create collective memories, which can be used to build a quantum computer approach known as ‘topological quantum computing.’ Due to the way braiding functions, qubits created from anyons can retain their quantum coherence over long periods of time, leading them towards greater fidelity,” said Quantinuum.
Quantinuum wrote that the controlled creation and manipulation of non-Abelian anyons leading to topological qubits marks a “significant step towards universal fault-tolerant quantum computing.”
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Universal means that arbitrary quantum computations can be performed and fault-tolerant indicates quantum logic gates used in the design of a quantum computer keep 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 of quantum computing,” he remarked. “H2 highlights the opportunity to achieve valuable outcomes that are only possible with a quantum computer. The development of the H2 processor is also a critical step in moving towards universal fault tolerant quantum computing.”
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