Researchers in Australia have successfully created \u2018quantum entangled states\u2019 between two distant atoms in silicon. Engineers from the University of New South Wales were able to create the entangled states using electrons as a bridge.<\/p>\n
Quantum entangled state is a physics phenomenon where two separate particles become so deeply linked that they no longer behave independently.<\/p>\n
The step achieved by UNSW engineers is a significant advancement in quantum computing and can help build large-scale quantum computers \u2013 one of the most exciting scientific and technological challenges of the 21st century.<\/p>\n
Potential to build the future microchips<\/p>\n
Researchers created quantum entangled states using the spins of two atomic nuclei. The achievement could also unlock the potential to build the future microchips needed for quantum computing using existing technology<\/a> and manufacturing processes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe succeeded in making the cleanest, most isolated quantum objects talk to each other, at the scale at which standard<\/a> silicon electronic devices are currently fabricated,\u201d said lead author Dr Holly Stemp.<\/p>\n Two-qubit controlled-Z logic operation<\/p>\n Published in the journal Science, the study<\/a> demonstrated a two-qubit controlled-Z logic operation between the nuclei of two phosphorus atoms in a silicon device, separated by up to 20 nanometers.<\/p>\n Each atom binds separate electrons, whose exchange interaction mediates the nuclear two-qubit gate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe prepared and measured a nuclear Bell state with a fidelity of 76\u22125+5% and a concurrence of 0.67\u22120.05+0.05. With this method, future progress in scaling up semiconductor spin qubits can be extended to the development of nuclear spin\u2013based quantum computers,\u201d said researchers<\/a> in the study.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMost people think of an electron as the tiniest subatomic particle, but quantum physics tells us that it has the ability to \u2018spread out\u2019 in space, so that it can interact with multiple atomic nuclei,\u201d said<\/a> Dr Holly Stemp, who conducted this research at UNSW and is now a postdoctoral researcher at\u00a0MIT in Boston.<\/p>\n \u201cEven so, the range over which the electron can spread is quite limited. Moreover, adding more nuclei to the same electron makes it very challenging to control each nucleus individually.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Until now, nuclei were like people placed in a soundproof room<\/p>\n Stemp highlighted that by way of metaphor, one could say that, until now, nuclei were like people placed in a soundproof room.<\/p>\n They can talk to each other as long as they are all in the same room, and the conversations are really clear. But they can\u2019t hear anything from the outside, and there\u2019s only so many people who can fit inside the room, according to Stemp.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this breakthrough, it\u2019s as if we gave people telephones to communicate to other rooms. All the rooms are still nice and quiet on the inside, but now we can have conversations between many more people, even if they are far away,\u201d said Stemp.<\/p>\n The \u2019telephones\u2019 are, in fact, electrons.<\/p>\n Mark van Blankenstein, another author on the paper, explained that by their ability to spread out in space, two electrons can \u2018touch\u2019 each other at quite some distance. \u201cAnd if each electron is directly coupled to an atomic nucleus, the nuclei can communicate through that,\u201d said<\/a> Blankenstein.<\/p>\n Researchers also pointed out that the method is remarkably robust and scalable. They just used two electrons, but researchers claimed that in the future, they can even add more electrons, and force them in an elongated shape, to spread out the nuclei even further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers in Australia have successfully created \u2018quantum entangled states\u2019 between two distant atoms in silicon. 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