A research team led by Duan Luming at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University in China has built the worlds most powerful ion-based quantum computing system, the South China Morning Post reported. The research achievement paves the way for scalable quantum computers in the future.

Considered the next frontier of computing, quantum computers promise faster computation that could help humanity solve challenges in medicine, astronomy, and climate change. This is achieved by using quantum bits or qubits to store information.

Unlike the classical bits in silicon-based computers, which can either be in an on state or off state, qubits can be both on and off simultaneously while occupying a range of states in between them, also known as superposition. This allows quantum algorithms to process information in a fraction of the time it takes for even the worlds fastest supercomputers.

Researchers are working with various quantum systems to determine the best way to work with qubits.

Ions or charged particles can be suspended using electromagnetic fields and used as qubits in a quantum system. However, previous work in this area has shown that although quantum information can be transferred using the collective motion of the ions, the system isnt suited for scaling up.

Just as scaling silicon-based computers helps achieve complex calculations, scalability is important in quantum computing as well. To overcome this challenge with ions, researchers have used trapped-ion systems instead.

In such a system, researchers use a one-dimensional ion crystal that binds the ions in a lattice structure within, hence the name trapped-ion system. The approach is quite popular among quantum physicists, who have achieved simulation with 61 ions so far.

The researchers in Duans team at Tsinghua University have created a record by achieving stable trapping and cooling of a two-dimensional crystal with 512 ions, a first in the field of quantum science.

The achievement was praised by reviewers as a milestone to be recognised at the journal where Duan and colleagues published their research findings, the SCMP report added.

The feat achieved by the Chinese researchers is important given that scalability with ions has been a problem in quantum computing before. The researchers demonstrated this ability in a stable quantum simulation system, which another reviewer of the paper dubbed the worlds largest simulation.

Quantum simulators are devices that help researchers find answers about quantum model systems by analyzing quantum effects. They are popular tools among researchers because they can help advance scientific knowledge about quantum systems.

The researchers also completed another simulation, using 300-ion qubits to successfully complete a quantum calculation. The SCMP report said that such a systems computational ability was already astronomical and far exceeded the capabilities of classical computers.

The research moves China closer to building large-scale quantum computers in the future, an area in which it is directly competing with the US. Interestingly, Duan, a doctoral student from the University of Science and Technology of China, spent 15 years teaching in the US before returning to China in 2018.

The research findings were published in the journal Nature this week.

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Ameya Paleja Ameya is a science writer based in Hyderabad, India. A Molecular Biologist at heart, he traded the micropipette to write about science during the pandemic and does not want to go back. He likes to write about genetics, microbes, technology, and public policy.

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China builds the world's most powerful ion-based computing machine - Interesting Engineering