Physicists recently identified a new state of matter known as topological superconductivity, a missing piece for quantum computers.

In their paper, the team of researchers explained they can use this new state of matter to store and protect quantum particles to store data in qubits. This has been a nagging problem, as quantum particles are easily altered by outside noise.

Javad Shabani, one of the authors of the paper, claimed physicists can manipulate this new state “in ways that could both speed calculation in quantum computing and boost storage.”

The team consists of physicists from New York University, Wayne State University, and University of Buffalo. They published their paper on ArXiv, an online repository for papers that are accepted for publication but have not yet been peer reviewed.

States of Matter Explained

The four fundamental states of matter are solids, liquids, gases, and plasma. A substance transitions from one to the next by increasing the temperature, like an ice cube turning into water and then into steam. Extremely high temperatures or voltages creates plasma, in which electrons wander away from the nucleus. Scientists estimate that plasma makes up 99% of the universe.

In between these states, intermediate states are possible in certain conditions. The most common example is glass, in that it is technically neither a liquid or a solid.

However, there are several counter-intuitive states of matter that exist in extreme conditions.

High Energy Matter

For example, at extremely high temperatures and pressures matter can exist as degenerate matter. Electron-degenerate matter exists in the center of white dwarves, where intense pressure forces atoms together so tightly that electrons transfer freely to nearby atoms. In neutron stars, the temperature and pressure are much higher, forcing protons and electron together, forming specialized neutrons, known as neutron-degenerate matter.

Likewise, at extremely high temperatures, quarks overcome the strong force, which holds them together to form protons and neutrons. This allows them to wander freely, forming a subatomic plasma, much like when electrons are free to wander away from the nucleus in typical plasma. Physicists call this quark matter.

Furthermore, at speeds near the speed of light, relativistic effects on all objects and energy become apparent, including on gluons. These are the elementary particles that carry the strong force. Near the speed of light, they appear shortened in the direction of movement, due to relativistic length contraction. This forms an extremely dense gluon wall, known as a color-glass condensate.

Low Energy Matter

On the other hand, at extremely low temperatures, matter also forms bizarre types. For example, Bose-Einstein condensates occur near absolute zero and are characterized by many quantum particles behaving as one large particle, in that they occupy the same quantum state.

Furthermore, superfluids are created when certain isotopes of helium or a few other elements are cooled to near absolute zero. At this point they lose all viscosity. This means there is no loss of kinetic energy, thus allowing for vortices in the superfluid to spin indefinitely or the superfluid to climb the walls of its container.

Photonic matter is created when light passes through extremely cold gas. This makes the photons behave as if they have mass. Because of this, they can interact with each other, sometimes creating photonic molecules.

Lastly, researchers make superconductors by cooling certain materials below a critical temperature. When this point is hit, electrical resistance plummets to zero, meaning it becomes a perfect conductor. Electricity can flow through it indefinitely without any loss.

This also means magnetic field lines cannot pass through the material, instead wrapping around it. When this happens, the magnetic field lines grip the material, allowing for it to essentially levitate above a powerful magnet.

Topological Superconductivity and Quantum Computing

The researchers from New York University, Wayne State University, and University of Buffalo found an unknown superconductive state while measuring a transition between quantum states, from conventional to topological. They named it topological superconductivity.

They believe physicists can use it to store and protect quantum particles from outside noise, much like the man in the video above can easily control and manipulate the levitating object. This is an essential element in quantum computers.

Quantum computers can perform calculations orders of magnitude faster than traditional computers, although it is difficult to keep them stable. Traditional computers store information in bits as a 0 or 1, depending on the amount of voltage passing through a circuit. Quantum computers store information in qubits as an “up” or “down” spin in quantum particles.

The key advantage for quantum computers is that quantum particles can exist as a superposition. This means they can exist in both “up” and “down” states, allowing them to perform multiple calculations at once.

However, a big problem has been outside interference, as the quantum states of the qubits are fragile. Topological superconductivity offers a solution by preserving their quantum states, like the levitating object in the video, although on a quantum scale.

Majorana Particles

While many quantum particles can be used, Majorana particles in particular are getting attention from researchers.

These are the only particles that are their own anti-particles, which has numerous benefits for quantum computing. For example, physicists can intertwine them and use them to systematically annihilate each other. Depending on how physicists intertwine them, the annihilation will have a probability of producing an electron or nothing, producing the necessary qubits.

A team from Princeton claimed “The probabilistic outcome of the Majorana pair annihilation underlies its use for quantum computation.”

Up until now, there has not been a way to adequately contain and protect the Majorana particles.

The Future of Quantum Computers

The discovery of topological superconductivity seems to be one of the missing pieces in creating viable quantum computers. Although, smaller ones exist in labs, commercially available ones are still many years away.

A few years ago, NASA reported that their 1097-qubit quantum computer solved an optimization problem 100 million times faster than a typical computer chip.

Therefore, when they hit the market, it will be a monumental paradigm shift, more so than the shift from cathode ray tubes to transistors.

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