The state of the newly discovered material could dramatically improve computing

A team of physicists claims to have discovered a new state of matter – a breakthrough that could dramatically improve traditional computing as well as quantum computing.

The new state, called "topological superconductivity", could help to increase storage capacity in electronic devices and improve quantum computing.

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Even faster quantum computing

The research, detailed in an article available on arXiv, was focused on quantum computing – a method allowing much faster computations than classical computing.

In quantum computing, data is processed in qubits instead of traditional digital bits in the form of 0s and 1s. This allows values ​​between 0 and 1 to be tabulated, massively increasing data processing speed.

"Our research was able to reveal experimental evidence for a new state of matter – topological superconductivity, "said Javad Shabani, an assistant professor of physics at the University of New York, in a press release.

"This new topological state can be manipulated so as to speed up the calculation in quantum computing and increase storage. "

A new quantum platform

In their research, Igor Zutic of the University of Buffalo, Alex Matos-Abiague of Wayne State University and a team analyzed a quantum state in transition to a new topological state. They measured the energy barrier between the two states.

In addition, they directly measured the signature characteristics of the transition in the order parameter that governs the new phase of topological superconductivity.

The investigation is focused on Majorana particles – which are their own antiparticles – as these have shown promise for storage of quantum information. in a special computing space protected from the noise of the environment.

One problem, however, is that there is no natural host for these Majorana particles. The researchers believe that their new state of the art could be a step forward:

"The new discovery of topological superconductivity in a two-dimensional platform paves the way for the construction of scalable topological qubits to not only store quantum information, but also to manipulate quantum states without error, "Shabani said.