Communications of the ACM
Nist Physicists Benchmark Quantum Simulator With Hundreds of Qubits
The NIST quantum simulator permits study of quantum systems that are difficult to study in the laboratory and impossible to model with a supercomputer. In this photograph of the crystal, the ions are fluorescing, indicating the qubits are all in the same
Credit: Britton/NIST
U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have developed a quantum simulator that can engineer interactions among hundreds of quantum bits (qubits), which is 10 times more than previous devices.
The NIST simulator consists of a single-plane crystal of hundreds of beryllium ions, less than one millimeter in diameter, hovering inside a device called a Penning trap. The simulator can exploit a property of quantum mechanics called superposition, in which a quantum particle is made to be in two distinct states at the same time, as well as a second quantum property called entanglement between the qubits, so that even physically separated particles may be made tightly interconnected.
The researchers say that NIST's simulator has extensive control over hundreds of qubits, which exponentially increases the simulator’s quantum state space. The researchers also note that unlike quantum computers, simulators are “special purpose” devices designed to be used to research specific problems.
From NIST News
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