Scientists Just Measured a Mechanical Quantum System Without Destroying It
upstart writes:
Scientists Just Measured a Mechanical Quantum System Without Destroying It:
There's a key aspect of quantum computing you may not have thought about before. Called 'quantum non-demolition measurements', they refer to observing certain quantum states without destroying them in the process.
If we want to put together a functioning quantum computer, not having it break down every second while calculations are made would obviously be helpful. Now, scientists have described a new technique for recording quantum non-demolition measurements that shows a lot of promise.
In this case, the research involved mechanical quantum systems - objects that are relatively large in quantum computing terms, but exceedingly tiny for us. They use mechanical motion (such as vibration) to handle the necessary quantum magic, and they can be combined with other quantum systems too.
[...] They describe it as similar to playing a theremin, the strange musical instrument that doesn't need to be touched to produce sound.
[...] A hybrid qubit-resonator device such as the one described in this study potentially offers the best of two different fields of research: the computational capabilities of superconducting qubits, and the stability of mechanical systems. Now scientists have shown information can be extracted from such a device in a non-destructive way.
Plenty more work needs to be done - once the task of measuring states has been refined and completed, these states then need to be exploited and manipulated to be of real use - but the huge potential of quantum computing systems may have just been brought another step closer.
The article also includes a video of someone playing a theremin.
Journal Reference:
von Lupke, U., Yang, Y., Bild, M. et al. Parity measurement in the strong dispersive regime of circuit quantum acoustodynamics. Nat. Phys. (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01591-2
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