Quantum computing

A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University, and Sandia National Laboratories reports a new technique for creating targeted defects in diamond materials, which is simpler and more precise than its predecessors and could benefit diamond-based quantum computing devices.

Toward mass-producible quantum computers

Process for positioning quantum bits in diamond optical circuits could work at large scales.

May 26, 2017

MIT physicists have found that a flake of graphene, when brought in close proximity with two superconducting materials, can inherit some of those materials’ superconducting qualities. As graphene is sandwiched between superconductors, its electronic state changes dramatically, even at its center. Pictured is the experimental concept and device schematic.

Sandwiched between superconductors, graphene adopts exotic electronic states

Platform may be used to explore avenues for quantum computing.

May 4, 2017

“I fell in love with physics,” says senior Zachary Hulcher. “I appreciate light bouncing off a mirror, and smoke billowing up, and light going through it in a different way. … The small things I took for granted when I didn’t understand them, I appreciate now. Everything is just a little prettier.”

From football to physics

Zachary Hulcher, Marshall Scholar and offensive lineman, will study high-energy physics in the U.K.

February 27, 2017

In this illustration, each colored line represents a different state of a “spin chain,” which can be thought of as the magnetic orientations, or spins, of a string of quantum particles. Where the line rises, the spin is up; where it falls, the spin is down; and where it’s flat, the spin is zero. MIT researchers modeled the entanglement of a quantum system as the “superposition” of such s...

Entanglement bonanza

Relatively simple quantum computers could be much more powerful than previously realized.

November 18, 2016

This image shows the basic setup that enables researchers to use lasers as optical “tweezers” to pick individual atoms out from a cloud and hold them in place. The atoms are imaged onto a camera, and the traps are generated by a laser that is split into many different focused laser beams. This allows a single atom to be trapped at each focus.

Scientists set traps for atoms with single-particle precision

Technique may enable large-scale atom arrays for quantum computing.

November 3, 2016

“Learning from this model, we can understand what’s really going on in these superconductors, and what one should do to make higher-temperature superconductors, approaching hopefully room temperature,” says Martin Zwierlein, professor of physics and principal investigator in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics.

For first time, researchers see individual atoms keep away from each other or bunch up as pairs

Observations of atomic interactions could help pave way to room-temperature superconductors.

September 15, 2016

Toward practical quantum computers

Built-in optics could enable chips that use trapped ions as quantum bits.

August 8, 2016

Arrows indicate the spin direction in the ferromagnetic insulator (EuS, shown in red) and topological insulator (Bi2Se3, shown in blue) at the interface between the two materials.

Researchers find unexpected magnetic effect

Combining two thin-film materials yields surprising room-temperature magnetism.

May 9, 2016

MIT Senior Research Scientist Jagadeesh Moodera stands in front of a custom-built system used to fabricate ultrathin films. His work includes devices that exhibit resistance-free, spin-polarized electrical current; enabling memory storage at the level of single molecules; and the search for the elusive Majorana fermions sought for quantum computing.

Research highlight: Jagadeesh Moodera

Step-by-step, the Moodera Research Group is building the essential knowledge and hardware for next-generation quantum computers.

April 29, 2016

Stabilizing quantum bits

Feedback technique used on diamond “qubits” could make quantum computing more practical.

April 6, 2016

Researchers have designed and built a quantum computer from five atoms in an ion trap. The computer uses laser pulses to carry out Shor’s algorithm on each atom, to correctly factor the number 15.

The beginning of the end for encryption schemes?

New quantum computer, based on five atoms, factors numbers in a scalable way.

March 3, 2016

Crunching quantum code

MIT physics graduate student Sagar Vijay co-develops error correction method for quantum computing based on special electronic states called Majorana fermions.

February 12, 2016

MIT assistant professor of physics Liang Fu seeks to identify new materials that can process and store quantum information robustly.

Faculty highlight: Liang Fu

MIT theoretical physicist’s research bridges abstract math and exotic computing materials.

February 3, 2016

This diagram demonstrates the simplified results that can be obtained by using quantum analysis on enormous, complex sets of data. Shown here are the connections between different regions of the brain in a control subject (left) and a subject under the influence of the psychedelic compound psilocybin (right). This demonstrates a dramatic increase in connectivity, which explains some of the drug’...

A new quantum approach to big data

System for handling massive digital datasets could make impossibly complex problems solvable.

January 25, 2016

3Q: Scott Aaronson on Google’s new quantum-computing paper

Google experiments suggest that the D-Wave computer exploits quantum phenomena.

December 11, 2015

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