Microsoft says that it has created a new state of matter for quantum power computers

Anyone who has sat through a third -degree science class knows that there are three main states of matter: solid, liquid and gas.

Microsoft now says that it has created a new state of matter in its search to make a powerful machine, called a quantum computer, which could accelerate the development of everything, from batteries to medications to artificial intelligence.

On Wednesday, Microsoft scientists said they had built what is known as a “topological qbit” based on this new phase of physical existence, which could be used to solve mathematical, scientific and technological problems.

With development, Microsoft is increasing bets in what will be the next great technological contest, beyond today's career about artificial intelligence. Scientists have pursued the dream of a quantum computer, a machine that could exploit the strange and extremely powerful behavior of subatomic particles or very cold objects, since the 1980s.

The thrust was heated in December when Google released an experimental quantum computer that needed only five minutes to complete a calculation that most supercomputers could not end in 10 se things of years, more than the age of the known universe.

Microsoft quantum technology could overcome developing methods on Google. As part of its research, the company built multiple topological qubits within a new type of computer chip that combines the strengths of the semiconductors that feed classic computers with superconductors that are generally used to build a quantum computer.

When this chip cools to extremely low temperatures, it behaves in an unusual and powerful way that Microsoft believes that it will allow it to solve technological, mathematical and scientific problems that classic machines could never. technology is not as volatile as other quantum technologies, the company said, which makes it easier to exploit its power.

Some question whether Microsoft has achieved this milestone, and many leading academics said quantum computers would not be fully carried out for decades. But Microsoft scientists said their methods would help them reach the finish line before.

“We see this as something that is years away, not decades away,” said Cetan Nayak, a Microsoft technical fellow who directed the team that built the technology.

Microsoft technology, which was detailed in a research work published in the scientific journal Nature on Wednesday, adds a new impulse to a career that could remodel the technological panorama. In addition to accelerating progress in many technological and scientific fields, a quantum computer could be powerful enough to break the encryption that protects national secrets.

Any advance has geopolitical implications. Even when the United States explores quantum computing through corporations such as Microsoft and a wave of start-upsThe Chinese government has said that it is investing $ 15.2 billion in technology. The European Union has committed $ 7.2 billion.

Quantum computing, which is based on decades of research on a type of physics called quantum mechanics, remains an experimental technology. But after the recent advances of Microsoft, Google and others, scientists trust that technology will eventually fulfill their promise.

“Quantum computing is an exciting perspective of physics and for the world,” said Frank Wilczek, theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of technology.

To understand quantum computing, it helps to know how a traditional computer works. A smartphone, laptop or desktop PC is based on small chips made of semiconductors, which are materials that conduct electricity in some situations, but not in all, in all situations. These chips store and process numbers, adding them, multiplying them, etc. They perform these calculations manipulating information bits. Each bit contains a 1 or 0.

A quantum computer works differently. A quantum drill, or QBIT, is based on the curious behavior of subatomic particles or exotic materials cooled to extremely low temperatures.

When it is extremely small or extremely cold, a single object can behave like two separate objects at the same time. By taking advantage of that behavior, scientists can build a QBIT that has a combination of 1 and 0. This means that two qubits can contain four values ​​at the same time. And as the number of qubits grows, a quantum computer becomes exponentially more powerful.

Companies use a variety of techniques to build these machines. In the United States, most, including Google, builds qubits using superconductors, which are materials that carry out electricity without losing the energy they transmit. They create these superconductors cooling metals at extremely low temperatures.

Microsoft has opted for an approach that few are adopting: combining semiconductors with superconductors. The basic principle, together with the name Topological Qbit, was first proposed in 1997 by Alexei Kitaev, an American Russian physicist.

The company began working on this unusual project in the early 2000s, when many researchers did not believe that this technology was possible. It is the oldest research project in Microsoft.

“This is something that the three CEO of this company have opted,” said Satya Nadella, executive director of Microsoft, in an interview. (The previous CEOs of the company were Bill Gates, a founder, and Steve Ballmer, who directed Microsoft in the early 2000s).

The company has now created a single device that is part of Indian Arsenuro (a type of semiconductor) and partial aluminum (a low temperatures superconductor). When it cools at about 400 degrees below zero, it exhibits a type of behavior of another world that could make quantum computers.

Philip Kim, a physics professor at Harvard, said Microsoft's new creation was significant because topological qubits could accelerate the development of quantum computers. “If everything works, Microsoft's investigation could be revolutionary,” he said.

But Jason Alicea, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of technology, questioned whether the company had really built a topological qbit, saying that the behavior of quantum systems is often difficult to prove.

“A topological qbit is possible in principle, and people agree that it is an objective that is worth it,” said Dr. Alicea. “However, it must verify that a device behaves of all the magical forms that the theory predicts that it should; Otherwise, reality can be less optimistic for quantum computing. Fortunately, Microsoft is now configured to try. “

Microsoft said that he had built only eight topological qubits, and that they still could not perform calculations that changed the nature of computer science. But company researchers see this as a step to build something much more powerful.

For now, technology still makes too many mistakes to be really useful, although scientists are developing ways to reduce errors.

Last year, Google showed that as the number of qubits increased, it could exponentially reduce the number of errors through complex mathematical techniques.

Errors correction will be less complex and more efficient if Microsoft can improve their topological qubits, many scientists said.

While a Qbit can contain multiple values ​​at the same time, it is loaded by an inherent problem. When researchers try to read the information stored in a QBIT, “Decohere” and collapses in a classic bit that contains only one value: a 1 or 0.

This means that if someone tries to read a Qbit, he loses his basic power. So, scientists need to overcome an essential problem: how is a computer built if it breaks every time you use it?

Google error correction methods are a way of addressing this problem. Microsoft believes that you can solve the fastest problem because topological qubits behave differently and in theory it is less likely to collapse when someone reads the information it stores.

“It's a really good Qbit,” said Dr. Nayak.