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‘Angel particle’ mimics may be first step to reliable quantum computers

  • A team of researchers led by physicists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences reports subatomic breakthrough
  • The scientists say groups of particles can behave like the theoretical particle which also has its own antiparticle

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A team of physicists has reported taking a first step in potentially solving a major challenge in quantum computing. Photo: Shutterstock
Holly Chik
Scientists say they have created a stable state in the subatomic world using “dark matter” physics that could open the way to more reliable and robust quantum computers.
The team, led by Gao Hongjun, professor with the Institute of Physics, and other physicists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported taking a first step in potentially solving a major challenge in quantum computing.

The subatomic particles at the heart of the technology are fragile, short-lived and prone to error if exposed to even a slight disturbance from the surroundings. That means scientists usually have to run quantum computers in extremely cold and isolated environments.

But an exception is the elusive “angel particle”, proposed by the Italian theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937, and closely linked to the formation of dark matter. Its properties could overcome quantum computing’s sensitivity to the environment.

When the scientists produced a large number of magnetic whirling “storms” over the surface of a superconducting material, they found some of the particles in each vortex formed groups – called Majorana Zero Mode (MZM) – that resembled the angel particle.

In a paper published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, the team said more than 90 per cent of the vortices were topological and possessed the characteristics of isolated MZMs at the vortex centre, forming a grid-like lattice structure that could be controlled by an external magnetic force.

This quality could make them building blocks for topological quantum bits – the basic memory units of quantum computing – but with more resistance to environmental noise than standard qubits, and potentially capable of creating more stable and fault-tolerant computers.

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