Meet the woman leading the race to build the world's first quantum computer

Michelle Simmons and her Australian team make strides in developing a true supercomputer, pursuing the idea that cheap silicon is the key

Around the world, teams of engineers, physicists, mathematicians and engineers are using all kinds of exotic materials in the race to build the world's first practical quantum computer, capable of processing amounts of data in a matter of hours that would take today's computers millions of years.

Caesium, aluminium, niobium titanium nitride and diamond are among the substances being used by researchers trying to determine which will best allow particles to maintain a delicate quantum state of superposition, where particles exist across multiple, seemingly counterintuitive states at the same time.