Lifeboat Foundation

How do we actually create and manipulate qubits, essential for realizing quantum computation? Chief Scientist of Hardware Technology Development at Quantinuum, Patty Lee, joins Brian Greene to discuss various quantum strategies, their achievements to date and pathways forward.

This program is part of the Big Ideas series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Continue reading “Crafting Qubits: Harnessing Quantum Mechanics for Computation” »

Google argued that its new uber-powerful quantum computer is so fast that it may have tapped a parallel universe.

A new hypothesis suggests that the very fabric of space-time may act as a dynamic reservoir for quantum information, which, if it holds, would address the long-standing Black Hole Information Paradox and potentially reshape our understanding of quantum gravity, according to a research team including scientists from pioneering quantum computing firm, Terra Quantum and Leiden University.

Published in Entropy, the Quantum Memory Matrix (QMM) hypothesis offers a mathematical framework to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity while preserving the fundamental principle of information conservation.

The study proposes that space-time, quantized at the Planck scale — a realm where the physics of quantum mechanics and general relativity converge — stores information from quantum interactions in “quantum imprints.” These imprints encode details of quantum states and their evolution, potentially enabling information retrieval during black hole evaporation through mechanisms like Hawking radiation. This directly addresses the Black Hole Information Paradox, which highlights the conflict between quantum mechanics — suggesting information cannot be destroyed — and classical black hole descriptions, where information appears to vanish once the black hole evaporates.

‘Altermagnetism’ discovery could deliver ‘thousand-fold increase’ in memory and speed of computing components.

Three distinct topological degrees of freedom are used to define all topological spin textures based on out-of-plane and in-plane spin configurations: the topological charge, representing the number of times the magnetization vector m wraps around the unit sphere; the vorticity, which quantifies the angular integration of the magnetic moment along the circumferential direction of a domain wall; and the helicity, defining the swirling direction of in-plane magnetization.

Electrical manipulation of these three degrees of freedom has garnered significant attention due to their potential applications in future spintronic devices. Among these, the helicity of a magnetic skyrmion—a critical topological property—is typically determined by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). However, controlling skyrmion helicity remains a formidable challenge.

A team of scientists led by Professor Yan Zhou from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Professor Senfu Zhang from Lanzhou University successfully demonstrated a controllable helicity switching of skyrmions using spin-orbit torque, enhanced by thermal effects.

Google’s new Willow quantum processor has reignited discussions around blockchain security and their ability to withstand rapid advancements.

Just a few months after the previous record was set, a start-up called Quantinuum has announced that it has entangled the largest number of logical qubits – this will be key to quantum computers that can correct their own errors.

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Google on Monday announced Willow, its latest, greatest quantum computing chip. The speed and reliability performance claims Google’s made about this chip were newsworthy in themselves, but what really caught the tech industry’s attention was an even wilder claim tucked into the blog post about the chip.

Google Quantum AI founder Hartmut Neven wrote in his blog post that this chip was so mind-boggling fast that it must have borrowed computational power from other universes.

Ergo the chip’s performance indicates that parallel universes exist and “we live in a multiverse.”

Quantum computers differ fundamentally from classical ones. Instead of using bits (0s and 1s), they employ “qubits,” which can exist in multiple states simultaneously due to quantum phenomena like superposition and entanglement.

For a quantum computer to simulate dynamic processes or process data, among other essential tasks, it must translate complex input data into “quantum data” that it can understand. This process is known as quantum compilation.

Essentially, quantum compilation “programs” the quantum computer by converting a particular goal into an executable sequence. Just as the GPS app converts your desired destination into a sequence of actionable steps you can follow, quantum compilation translates a high-level goal into a precise sequence of quantum operations that the quantum computer can execute.