Researchers develop ultrapure silicon ideal for making quantum computers

Researchers from the universities of Melbourne (Australia) and Manchester (United Kingdom) have invented a technique to create highly purified silicon, “a perfect material” to make powerful quantum computers.

LOOK: Quantum computers: how do they solve tasks that would take thousands of years in seconds? (and why is its massive use still utopian?)

In a finding, reported this Tuesday in the journal Communication Materials, the researchers explain how they have produced an improved, ultrapure form of silicon that allows the construction of high-performance qubits, the fundamental component of quantum computing.

“We have managed to create a kind of ‘brick’ or piece necessary for the creation of a silicon quantum computer,” emphasizes one of the authors, Richard Curry, professor of advanced electronic materials at the University of Manchester.

“This is a crucial step to make viable a technology with the capacity to process large-scale data that will have the potential to transform humanity, by providing solutions to complex problems such as the impacts of climate change or health challenges,” he adds.

Overcome a challenge

One of the biggest challenges in the development of quantum computers is that their basic components, the so-called qubits or quantum bits, are very sensitive and require a stable environment to maintain the information they contain.

Small changes in your environment, such as temperature fluctuations, can cause computer errors.

Another problem is its scale, both its physical size and its processing capacity: ten qubits have the same processing capacity as 1,024 bits in a normal computer and can occupy a much smaller volume.

A fully functioning quantum computer would need around a million qubits.

Scientists have been working with silicon for 60 years so that this basic computing material, due to its semiconductor properties, performs to the maximum of its capacity, but in quantum computing it has its challenges.

The point is that natural silicon is made up of three atoms of different masses (called isotopes), and one of them causes the ulna to lose information.

Now, researchers have managed to manipulate this material to eliminate harmful atoms for the ulna and turn it into the purest silicon in the world, allowing the creation of one million quantum bits the size of the head of a pin.

“Our technique opens the way to the development of reliable large-scale quantum computers with great society-transforming power in areas such as artificial intelligence, secure data and communications, vaccine and drug design, and energy use, logistics and manufacturing. ” says another of the authors, David Jamieson, from the University of Melbourne, in a statement.

The power of quantum computing

While conventional computers make one calculation after another, quantum computers can carry out all types of calculations at the same time, allowing them to process large amounts of information and perform very complex computations at unmatched speed.

Although quantum computing is still in its early stages, scientists believe that when fully developed it will help solve complex questions that can range from designing drugs to providing highly accurate weather forecasts.

Source: Elcomercio

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