In 2017 Microsoft announced its commitment to quantum computing. The ones and zeros had their days numbered or so we thought. The Redmond giant offered a website and even an SDK for developers to start experimenting with this new way of computing. using «quantum states of subatomic particles to store information», or qubits. Quantum computing promises the potential for unprecedented speeds and computational power, while at the same time posing a technical challenge: how to create these qubits without resorting to specialized environments that are difficult to produce and almost impossible, until now, to create in any type of world scenario real.
The reality is that for most it will sound like Chinese, but we will try to explain as much as possible what Microsoft’s great discovery has been. Quantum computing is still very complex and needs further explanation.
Quantum computing takes a giant leap
But now, according to a new post on Microsoft Innovation Storiesthe scientists of Azure Quantum of the company have achieved a “key scientific breakthrough” for create topological qubits. These have built-in protections against ambient noise such as heat, subatomic particles or magnetic fields, according to the article. These topological qubitswhich use a pair of “majorana zero modes” to induce “a topological phase of matter bounded by nodes.” “These quantum excitations do not normally exist in nature and must be excited to appear under incredibly precise conditions.”
Namely, Azure Quantum has found a way to create qubits under the name topological qubits. This is why Azure Quantum has focused on the development of topological qubits, which are expected to be faster, smaller and less likely to lose information than other types of qubits currently under development. Microsoft believes that creating a more topologically stable qubit is the clearest and fastest way to build a quantum machine on an industrial scale.
A promising future… still very far away
The promise of quantum computing is based on the ability to use subatomic particles to greatly speed up and multiply computational tasks. This is something exciting for the industry to break with everything that came before. Allowing to work on apparently unsolvable problems as well as providing a clear advantage to those who can take advantage of the technological aspects:
This quantum machine is designed to work hand-in-hand with classic Azure compute resources to offer customers new capabilities. For example, a chemical company might be able to design new catalysts in a matter of weeks instead of decades in a lab. Scientists could unlock nature’s secrets to harvest light more sustainably and improve photovoltaics for cleaner energy.
Whoever develops a commercial quantum accelerator first will have a huge competitive advantage, along with their customers, Alam said. It is another way in which Azure plans to continue offering the best cloud services and empowering its business customers to advance their industries.
Quantum computing is still a bit of a holy grail, but Microsoft scientists have given a key step towards one day harnessing the power of subatomic particles and greatly enhancing the potential of computing power. We hope we have helped you understand, a little, the operation and the importance of this finding by Microsoft.