Microsoft has debuted an experimental new computer chip which it claims utilizes a new state of matter for quantum computing.
On Wednesday Microsoft announced a breakthrough, calling it a major step forward in the pursuit of an effective quantum computer.
Rather than holding matter as a solid, a liquid or a gas, Microsoft says the chip enables what's known as a "topological superconductivity."
The semiconductors of a traditional computer chip perform calculations by manipulating "bits" of information, which can hold a value of either 1 or 0. "Qubits" used in quantum computing can, under the right circumstances, behave like a 1 and 0 at the same time. This has the potential to make them exponentially more capable than traditional computing chips, if they're scaled up.
The properties of Microsoft's new topoconductor chip mean millions of such qubits could fit in the palm of the hand, making it smaller and potentially more stable than competing quantum computing systems in development.
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More details have been published in a peer-reviewed research paper in the journal Nature, but some experts caution that the findings are still preliminary.
“Would I bet my life that they’re seeing what they think they’re seeing? No, but it looks pretty good,” Steven Simon, a theoretical physicist at the University of Oxford, told Nature.
