ETH Zurich physicist Yiwen Chu and her fellow researchers have developed an approach to quantum computing which combines mechanical resonators with superconducting qubits.
Information is stored in a working memory in the form of vibrations, thereby significantly increasing the system’s storage capacity.
The approach can perform both fundamental computational operations and more advanced quantum calculations. In so doing, they provide proof of feasibility and lay the groundwork for a fully programmable quantum computer that is, in principle, capable of carrying out any quantum computation
The new quantum chip is rectangular and only as wide as a small fingernail
The new quantum chip developed by ETH Zurich physicist Yiwen Chu contains mechanical resonators that begin to vibrate when storing information. The chip is approximately 7.5 millimetres long, 2.5 millimetres wide and 1 millimetre high. This makes it roughly as wide as a small fingernail. (Image: Hybrid Quantum Systems Group / ETH Zurich)
The team used mechanical resonators (e.g. high-quality sapphire slabs) to store quantum information. These components start to vibrate to hold data, acting very much like a digital computer’s working memory (RAM) The method isolates the CPU equivalent – a superconducting qubit – from the temporary working storage.
Other teams at the institute have also induced quantum superpositions via acoustic wave resonators and investigated huge quantum states using oscillating single ions trapped in electric fields.