the Nobel Prize in Physics<\/a>
\n for their discovery six years earlier of a counterintuitive physical
\n phenomenon, later dubbed the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect.
\n FQH refers to how electrons manipulated under strong magnetic fields
\n and at very low temperatures can create new states of matter. These
\n states are being leveraged nearly 40 years later to form the basis
\n of topological qubits.\n <\/p>\n\n But in so many other ways, the push toward a topological qubit has
\n placed scientists firmly in unknown territory. \u201cThe development of
\n the technology can be frustrating because nobody\u2019s done this
\n before,\u201d admits Eggleston. \u201cIt\u2019s completely open sky. We\u2019re often
\n ahead of the theorists.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\u201cNobody’s ever actually shown you can control the topological
\n state and switch it on and off. And that’s what we’re wanting to
\n demonstrate this year. That\u2019s what the scientists in our lab are
\n working on as we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Eggleston, Research Group Leader, Nokia Bell Labs<\/p>\n
\n That\u2019s why the Nokia Bell Labs team has often worked collaboratively
\n with the competition to advance the field. Much of the early
\n research saw them work closely with Microsoft, for example. But
\n they\u2019re also hoping that 2025 will mark the year that sets their
\n research apart.\n <\/p>\n
\n In the coming months, the team at Nokia Bell Labs hopes to
\n demonstrate their ability to control the qubit for the first time,
\n intentionally moving it between states to offer enhanced stability
\n and resilience against errors.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat will be a first,\u201d says Eggleston. \u201cNobody’s ever actually
\n shown you can control the topological state and switch it on and
\n off. And that’s what we’re wanting to demonstrate this year. That\u2019s
\n what the scientists in our lab are working on as we speak.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThen next year, we’ll build on that to show the quantum gating
\n operations that you’d need to build a quantum computer,\u201d Eggleston
\n adds.\n <\/p>\n
\n If the Bell Labs team can reach these milestone moments, they will
\n move closer toward a fully workable topological qubit that could
\n prove transformative for the future of quantum computing.\n <\/p>\n
\n Although the breakthrough may not shorten the timeline to a
\n full-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, it will demonstrably
\n alter the scale and scope of what quantum computers can achieve.\n <\/p>\n
Topological qubits could unlock the future potential that has made
\n quantum computing a topic of scientific fascination for years.<\/p>\n
\n Rather than multi-billion-dollar machines that occupy entire
\n buildings to deliver a mere fraction of the potential functionality,
\n topological qubits could pave the way for far more efficient
\n machines capable of tackling extremely complex optimization tasks
\n and simulation problems with billions of variables at both
\n microscopic and global levels.\n <\/p>\n
\n In short, they could unlock the future potential that has made
\n quantum computing a topic of scientific fascination for years.\n <\/p>\n
\n Think about their application in chemistry, points out Eggleston, an
\n area in which trial and error materially slows progress. \u201cYou have
\n chemicals where it\u2019s impossible to understand how they bind and
\n interface with each other, and so teams synthesize, run tests, and
\n see what works and what doesn’t,\u201d he explains.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cBut when someone designs a bridge, they don\u2019t just build a bunch
\n and see which one doesn’t fall down. Instead we have tools that
\n allow you to simulate the mechanics of these giant structures, test
\n them, and optimize them before you build anything. That\u2019s what I see
\n quantum computing being able to offer for the chemistry field,\u201d
\n Eggleston adds.\n <\/p>\n
\n Such a breakthrough could also transform the design and development
\n of lifesaving drugs, with quantum computers able to carry out
\n molecular modelling for new therapeutic compounds at far greater
\n speeds and levels of complexity than current computational methods
\n allow.\n <\/p>\n
\n And quantum systems could enable the simulation of exponentially
\n more complex supply chains, crafting intricate digital twins that
\n allow organizations to optimize operations. They could allow
\n scientists to better predict the course of climate change, or
\n develop advanced materials for use in aerospace. The use cases go
\n on.\n <\/p>\n
\n But before all that possibility can be materialized, a qubit that\u2019s
\n up to the task must come to fruition.\n <\/p>\n
\n
This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of
\n MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology
\n Review\u2019s editorial staff.<\/p>\n
This content was researched, designed, and written entirely by
\n human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. This includes
\n the writing of surveys and collection of data for surveys. AI
\n tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production
\n processes that passed thorough human review.\n <\/p>\n
\n by MIT Technology Review Insights<\/a>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the team at Nokia Bell Labs, the solution lies in better qubits rather than bigger machines. Specifically,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[64,63,257,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-103501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-computing","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}