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Category: computing – Page 178

The Year Ahead: Promise For Quantum Growth

IonQ fired the first shot in the M&A opportunities for quantum startups back in 2021, becoming the first publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company. In late 2024, IonQ filed to acquire Qubitekk as part of its strategy to apply distributed computer development as a means to progress toward a CRQC computer in data centers.

I predict that IonQ, among others in the space, has just begun its M&A program.

Expect to see acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures across geographies in the coming year, with several interesting possibilities in Europe.

‘Magic-wavelength optical tweezers’ achieve quantum entanglement of molecules

Harnessing molecular connections: unlocking long-lasting quantum entanglement.

Quantum entanglement—the mysterious connection that links particles no matter the distance between them—is a cornerstone for developing advanced technologies like quantum computing and precision measurement tools. While significant strides have been made in controlling simpler particles such as atoms, extending this control to more complex systems like molecules has remained challenging due to their intricate structures and sensitivity to their surroundings.

In a groundbreaking study, researchers have achieved long-lived quantum entanglement between pairs of ultracold polar molecules using a highly controlled environment known as “magic-wavelength optical tweezers.” These tweezers manipulate molecules with extraordinary precision, stabilizing their complex internal states, such as vibrations and rotations, while enabling detectable, fine-scale interactions.

The team successfully created a “Bell state,” a hallmark of quantum entanglement, with pairs of molecules. While some minor errors reduced the initial fidelity of the entangled state, correcting for these issues revealed that the entanglement could persist for remarkably long times—measured in seconds. This is a significant achievement, as second-scale lifetimes are exceptional in the quantum realm.

This breakthrough has far-reaching implications. Long-lived molecular entanglement could enhance quantum sensing technologies, provide new avenues for exploring chemical reactions at ultracold temperatures, and expand the potential of molecules as quantum bits (qubits) in simulations and memory storage for quantum computing. By unlocking the ability to precisely control and entangle molecules, scientists are paving the way for novel applications across quantum science, leveraging the rich internal dynamics of molecular systems.

Researchers at Durham University have successfully demonstrated long-lasting quantum entanglement between molecules, opening new doors for future advancements in quantum computing, sensing, and fundamental physics. The paper is published in the journal Nature.

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Silicon Photonics Breakthrough: The “Last Missing Piece” Now a Reality

International research team unveils the first electrically pumped continuous-wave semiconductor laser designed for seamless integration with silicon.

Scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), the University of Stuttgart, the Leibniz Institute for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP), and their French partner CEA-Leti have successfully developed the first electrically pumped continuous-wave semiconductor laser made entirely from group IV elements, commonly referred to as the “silicon group” in the periodic table.

This innovative laser is constructed from stacked ultrathin layers of silicon-germanium-tin and germanium-tin. Remarkably, it is the first laser of its type to be directly grown on a silicon wafer, paving the way for advancements in on-chip integrated photonics. The research findings have been published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.

Digital Resurrection: Advanced Simulations Reveal Secrets of Human Evolution

Lucy, an early human ancestor, could run upright but much slower than modern humans. New simulations show that muscle and tendon evolution, not just skeletal changes, were key to improving human running speed.

The University of Liverpool has led an international team of scientists in a new investigation into the running abilities of Australopithecus afarensis, the early human ancestor best known through the famous fossil “Lucy.”

Professor Karl Bates, an expert in Musculoskeletal Biology, brought together specialists from institutions in the UK and the Netherlands. Using advanced computer simulations and a digital reconstruction of Lucy’s skeleton, the team explored how this ancient species.

Orderly State of Electrons Melts on Camera

A cryogenic microscope reveals the atomic-scale processes that disrupt the charge-ordered state in a material as the temperature rises.

Many of the exotic materials being investigated for next-generation technologies exhibit charge order, a state in which the electrons arrange themselves into a periodic pattern, such as stripes of high and low electron density. Researchers have now shown that they can track the evolution of this state as it warms up and melts away by using a cryogenic electron microscope [1]. Their experimental approach offers a new way to explore the interactions between different phases of quantum materials, which could inform the development of future electronic and data storage devices.

In certain materials with strongly interacting electrons, charge order appears—usually below room temperature—as an electron density that varies periodically in a pattern of stripes, a checkerboard, or a more complicated 3D structure. Researchers want to understand this phase because it coexists and interacts with other states and properties of the material, many of which are useful for novel devices and technologies. In high-temperature superconductors, for example, charge order is known to suppress the material’s superconducting behavior. In other materials, strong coupling between charge order and ferromagnetism can trigger colossal magnetoresistance, a property that could be exploited in magnetic storage devices.

Scientists achieve direct experimental realization of dual-type entangling gates

To develop scalable and reliable quantum computers, engineers and physicists will need to devise effective strategies to mitigate errors in their quantum systems without adding complex additional components. A promising strategy to reduce errors entails the use of so-called dual-type qubits.

These are qubits that can encode in a system across two different types of quantum states. These qubits could increase the flexibility of quantum computing architectures, while also reducing undesirable crosstalk between qubits and enhancing a system’s operational fidelity.

Researchers at Tsinghua University and other research institutes in China recently realized an entangling gate between dual-type qubits in an experimental setting.

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