A team of researchers from the University of New South Wales, including two from the University of Calgary, has successfully created a quantum thought experiment known as Schrödinger’s cat in a silicon chip. The breakthrough demonstrates a new and robust way to perform quantum computations, shedding light on error correction – a key hurdle in building a functional quantum computer.
The concept of Schrödinger’s cat has puzzled scientists for over a century, illustrating the paradoxical nature of superposition in quantum mechanics. In this thought experiment, a cat is simultaneously dead and alive based on the decay of a radioactive atom. The researchers used an antimony atom, which is more complex than standard qubits, to create a “spin cat” state that mimics this superposition.
Dr. Andrea Morello from UNSW and Dr. Barry Sanders from the University of Calgary led the research, which involved an international collaboration of scientists from various institutions. The team fabricated and operated quantum devices, with theoretical collaborators providing crucial ideas on how to create and assess the cat’s complex quantum state.
The “dead” state corresponds to the antimony nuclear spin pointing downwards, while the “alive” state is represented by the spin pointing upwards. A superposition of these two states results in a striking quantum state displaying seven quantum interference fringes. This phenomenon can be used to detect consecutive errors required to flip a ‘0’ into a ‘1’ or vice versa in quantum computing.
The findings published in Nature Physics have significant implications for error correction and contribute to the development of more robust quantum computation methods.
Source: https://www.ucalgary.ca/news/metaphorical-cat-both-dead-and-alive-and-it-will-help-quantum-engineers-find-computing-errors