{"id":167548,"date":"2025-09-25T03:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T03:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/167548\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T03:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T03:37:08","slug":"entanglement-breakthrough-brings-quantum-computers-closer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/167548\/","title":{"rendered":"Entanglement breakthrough brings quantum computers closer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quantum entanglement \u2014 once dismissed by Albert Einstein as \u201cspooky action at a distance\u201d \u2014 has long captured the public imagination and puzzled even seasoned scientists.<\/p>\n

But for today\u2019s quantum practitioners, the reality is rather more mundane: entanglement is a kind of connection between particles that is the quintessential feature of quantum computers. <\/p>\n

Though these devices are still in their infancy, entanglement is what will allow them to do things classical computers cannot, such as better simulating natural quantum systems like molecules, pharmaceuticals or catalysts.<\/p>\n

In new research published today in Science, my colleagues and I have demonstrated quantum entanglement between two atomic nuclei separated by about 20 nanometres. <\/p>\n

This may not seem like much. But the method we used is a practical and conceptual breakthrough that may help to build quantum computers using one of the most precise and reliable systems for storing quantum information.<\/p>\n

Balancing control with noise<\/p>\n

The challenge facing quantum computer engineers is to balance two opposing needs. <\/p>\n

The fragile computing elements must be shielded from external interference and noise. But at the same time, there must be a way to interact with them to carry out meaningful computations. <\/p>\n

This is why there are so many different types of hardware still in the race to be the first operating quantum computer. <\/p>\n

Some types are very good for performing fast operations, but suffer from noise. Others are well shielded from noise, but difficult to operate and scale up.<\/p>\n

Getting nuclei to talk to each other<\/p>\n

My team has been working on a platform that \u2013 until today \u2013 could be placed in the second camp. We have implanted phosphorus atoms in silicon chips, and used the spin of the atoms\u2019 cores to encode quantum information. <\/p>\n

To build a useful quantum computer, we will need to work with lots of atomic nuclei at the same time. But until now, the only way to work with multiple atomic nuclei was to place them very close together inside a solid, where they could be surrounded by a single electron. <\/p>\n

We usually think of an electron being far smaller than the nucleus of an atom. However, quantum physics tells us it can \u201cspread out\u201d in space, so it can interact with multiple atomic nuclei at the same time. <\/p>\n

Even so, the range over which a single electron can spread is quite limited. Moreover, adding more nuclei to the same electron makes it very challenging to control each nucleus individually.<\/p>\n

Electronic \u2018telephones\u2019<\/p>\n

We could say that, until now, nuclei were like people placed in soundproof rooms. They can talk to each other as long as they are all in the same room, and the conversations are really clear. <\/p>\n

But they can\u2019t hear anything from the outside, and there\u2019s only so many people who can fit inside the room. Therefore, this mode of conversation can\u2019t be scaled up.<\/p>\n

In our new work, it\u2019s as if we gave people telephones to communicate to other rooms. Each room is still nice and quiet on the inside, but now we can have conversations between many more people, even if they are far away.<\/p>\n

The \u201ctelephones\u201d are electrons. By their ability to spread out in space, two electrons can \u201ctouch\u201d each other at quite some distance. <\/p>\n

And if each electron is directly coupled to an atomic nucleus, the nuclei can communicate via the interaction between the electrons. <\/p>\n

We used the electron channel to create quantum entanglement between the nuclei by means of a method called the \u201cgeometric gate\u201d, which we used a few years ago to carry out high-precision quantum operations with atoms in silicon.<\/p>\n

Now \u2013 for the first time in silicon \u2013 we showed this method can scale up beyond pairs of nuclei that are attached to the same electron.<\/p>\n

Fitting in with integrated circuits<\/p>\n

In our experiment, the phosphorus nuclei were separated by 20 nanometres. If this seems like still a small distance, it is: there are fewer than 40 silicon atoms between the two phosphorus ones. <\/p>\n

But this is also the scale at which everyday silicon transistors are fabricated. Creating quantum entanglement on the 20-nanometre scale means we can integrate our long-lived, well-shielded nuclear spin qubits into the existing architecture of standard silicon chips like the ones in our phones and computers. <\/p>\n

In the future, we envisage pushing the entanglement distance even further, because the electrons can be physically moved, or squeezed into more elongated shapes.<\/p>\n

Our latest breakthrough means that the progress in electron-based quantum devices can be applied to the construction of quantum computers that use long-lived nuclear spins to perform reliable computations.<\/p>\n

Andrea Morello is\u00a0professor, quantum nanosystems, UNSW Sydney. This article has been republished from The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Published – September 24, 2025 06:00 am IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quantum entanglement \u2014 once dismissed by Albert Einstein as \u201cspooky action at a distance\u201d \u2014 has long captured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[49,48,314,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-167548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-physics","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}