Microsoft delivers breakthrough in quantum computing

Microsoft’s Azure Quantum program has jumped a new hurdle in quantum computing physics, creating a new kind of topological qubit.

The organisation claims that it has developed devices that have been sought after by scientists for almost a century, describing the discovery as “the most promising path to developing a scalable quantum computer”.

Where classical computers manipulate individual bits, quantum computers manipulate information using quantum bits, or qubits, according to Dr Anna Phan, Asia Pacific Quantum Alliance Lead at IBM.

Today’s qubits have limitations, in that they can easily collapse when affected by environmental noise including heat, or magnetic fields. This can lead to errors and information loss, deeming them no longer useful for computation. Topological qubits however, have built-in noise protection, and are expected to be faster and smaller than other kinds of qubits.

A quantum machine built using this type of qubit will be more stable and therefore more scalable than machines built using other quantum bits, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft Hardware Engineer Ajuan Cui and Senior Researcher Mohana Rajpalke at Microsoft’s Quantum Materials Lab.
John Brecher for Microsoft

Krysta Svore, a Microsoft distinguished engineer, leading the company’s quantum software program said, “What’s amazing is humans have been able to engineer a system to demonstrate one of the most exotic pieces of physics in the universe. And we expect to capitalise on this to do the almost unthinkable — to push towards a fault-tolerant quantum machine that will enable computation on an entirely new level that’s closer to the way nature operates.”

Quantum computers are expected to be able to solve some of the world’s most intractable problems, using computational power not yet accessible to scientists using classical computers.

According to Zulfi Alam, quantum corporate vice president at Microsoft, “Figuring out how to feed the world or cure it of climate change will require discoveries or optimisation of molecules that simply can’t be done by today’s classical computers, and that’s where the quantum machine kicks in.”

In order to tackle such problems, the Azure team have determined that it will take more than a million qubits. However current public demonstrations of quantum computing have used less than 130.

This breakthrough in topological qubits is the first step in building a quantum computer that exists on a scale large enough to solve these urgent, real-world problems, the company claims.

In order to build a commercially viable quantum computer, qubits need to be reliable, fast and deliver at scale. This is why Alam believes this breakthrough has tangible benefits to the corporate world.

“Building a quantum computer is similar to sending someone to the moon or adventuring to Mars. It has the same level of complexity — or more — and requires a team of experts all working very closely together, where the mission is much greater than the individual parts,” Alam said.

“We are not motivated by scientific discovery alone. We are in the business of building products that deliver value and empower our customers to do the once unimaginable.”