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Sound Vibrations Can Encode, Process Data Like Quantum Computers


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Tracking sound vibrations.

Sound vibrations can mimic properties of quantum computing.

Credit: DmitrySteshenko/Shutterstock

University of Arizona researchers demonstrated that trapping sound in a simple mechanical device can imitate certain properties of quantum computers.

The researchers built an object that could act like a qubit by gluing together three aluminium rods over half a meter long each, then generated vibrations at one end and detected them at the other.

They observed that information could be input in the "phi-bits" (localized "chunks" of sound produced in the rods) by tuning the sound, and that the phi-bits could be forced into a superposition (a mixture of their individual states).

The researchers used the system to perform simple computations, as well as producing quantum-like states.

From New Scientist
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Abstracts Copyright © 2023 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA


 

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