Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – Researchers have achieved significant progress in the measurement of quantum devices, which are essential for the development of a topological quantum computer.
Tyler Lindemann, a researcher in the Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette and a Purdue University doctoral student, uses a molecular beam epitaxy system to create hybrid superconductor-semiconductor structures. (Purdue University photo/Charles Jischke)
They describe the operation of a device that is a necessary building block for a topological quantum computer.
“Our hope for quantum computation is that it will aid chemists, materials scientists and engineers working on the design and manufacturing of new materials that are so important to our daily lives,” said Michael Manfra, scientific director of Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette and the Bill and Dee O’Brien Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, professor of materials engineering, and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue.
“The promise of quantum computation is in accelerating scientific discovery and its translation into useful technology. For example, if quantum computers reduce the time and cost to produce new lifesaving therapeutic drugs, that is real societal impact.”
The Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette team advanced the complex layered materials for the device’s quantum plane. Microsoft scientists, experts in advanced semiconductor growth like molecular beam epitaxy, build low-dimensional electron systems forming qubits. They crafted the semiconductor and superconductor layers with atomic precision, tailoring the material properties for the device architecture.
Manfra, from the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute, credited the strong decade-long relationship between Purdue and Microsoft for advances at Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette. In 2017, Purdue strengthened this partnership with a multiyear agreement embedding Microsoft employees with Manfra’s research team.
“This was a collaborative effort by a very sophisticated team, with a vital contribution from the Microsoft scientists at Purdue,” Manfra said.
“It’s a Microsoft team achievement and the result of a long-standing partnership between Purdue and Microsoft. This was possible thanks to Purdue’s conducive environment, which blended industrial with academic research to benefit both communities. I think that’s a success story.”
Quantum science and engineering at Purdue is a pillar of the Purdue Computes initiative, which is focused on advancing research in computing, physical AI, semiconductors and quantum technologies.
“This research breakthrough in the measurement of the state of quasi particles is a milestone in the development of topological quantum computing, and creates a watershed moment in the semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structure,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said.
“Marking also the latest success in the strategic initiative of Purdue Computes, the deep collaboration that Professor Manfra and his team have created with the Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette on the Purdue campus exemplifies the most impactful industry research partnership at any American university today.”
Most quantum computers use local degrees of freedom, like an electron’s spin, to encode information. However, individual spins are easily disturbed by heat, vibrations, or interactions with other particles, requiring error detection and correction. Topological quantum computers store information in a distributed manner across many particles acting together. This makes it more difficult to alter the qubit state since all particle states must change to affect it.
Researchers were also able to accurately and quickly measure the state of quasi particles that form the basis of the qubit.
“The device is used to measure a basic property of a topological qubit quickly,” Manfra said. “The team is excited to build on these positive results.”
“The team in West Lafayette pushed existing epitaxial technology to a new state-of-the-art for semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structures to ensure a perfect interface between each of the building blocks of the Microsoft hybrid system,” said Sergei Gronin, a Microsoft Quantum Lab scientist.
“The materials quality that is required for quantum computing chips necessitates constant improvements, so that’s one of the biggest challenges,” Gronin said.
First, we had to advance semiconductor technology to an unprecedented level. Equally important was creating the hybrid system by merging semiconducting and superconducting parts, requiring perfection of both and their interface.
According to Tyler Lindemann, who works in the West Lafayette lab “working in Professor Manfra’s lab in conjunction with my work for Microsoft Quantum has given me a head start in my professional development, and been fruitful for my academic work.
Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer