Physicists have demonstrated a large-scale, programmable quantum simulator, featuring a precisely-arranged two-dimensional array of 256 quantum bits (

Highly programmable quantum simulator operates with up to 256 qubits – Physics World

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2021-07-23 05:30:08

Physicists have demonstrated a large-scale, programmable quantum simulator, featuring a precisely-arranged two-dimensional array of 256 quantum bits (qubits). Designed by a team headed up at Harvard University, the system uses arrays of highly focused laser beams to trap individual atoms and drag them into desirable arrangements. The design, which the researchers describe in Nature, marks a key step forward in the global race to design larger, more reliable quantum computers, and could significantly improve their applicability in the near future.

Through the latest advances in quantum computing, researchers have recently demonstrated the potential for programmable quantum systems, capable of performing deeply complex simulations and computations. A promising platform for this technology can be found in arrangements of neutral, ultracold atoms individually trapped within arrays of optical tweezers. As their quantum states interact, these atoms can be used in operations including large-scale entanglement, quantum logic gates and realizing optical atomic clocks.

In 2017, the team developed a platform containing 51 ultracold rubidium atoms, arranged in a specific order using a one-dimensional array of optical tweezers. Building on this achievement, in their latest study the researchers aimed to develop a far more powerful two-dimensional arrangement of qubits. Although large numbers of atoms have already been trapped and rearranged in both two- and three-dimensional arrays, the coherent manipulation of programmable, strongly interacting systems containing over 100 qubits has remained far more challenging.

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