Reference
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2019
See also: 2019 in science
IBM unveiled its first commercial quantum computer, the IBM Q System One,[244] designed by UK-based Map Project Office and Universal Design Studio and manufactured by Goppion.[245]
Austrian physicists demonstrated self-verifying, hybrid, variational quantum simulation of lattice models in condensed matter and high-energy physics using a feedback loop between a classical computer and a quantum co-processor.[246]
Griffith University, UNSW and UTS, in partnership with seven universities in the United States, develop noise cancelling for quantum bits via machine learning, taking quantum noise in a quantum chip down to 0%.[247][248]
Quantum Darwinism was observed in diamond at room temperature.[249][250]
Google revealed its Sycamore processor, consisting of 53 qubits. A paper by Google’s quantum computer research team was briefly available in late September 2019, claiming the project had reached quantum supremacy.[251][252][253] Google also developed a cryogenic chip for controlling qubits from within a dilution refrigerator.[254]
University of Science and Technology of China researchers demonstrated boson sampling with 14 detected photons.[255]
2020
See also: 2020 in science, Timeline of computing 2020–present, and 2020 in philosophy
20 April – UNSW Sydney develops a way of producing ‘hot qubits’ – quantum devices that operate at 1.5 kelvin.[256]
11 March – UNSW perform electric nuclear resonance to control single atoms in electronic devices.[257]
23 April – University of Tokyo and Australian scientists create and successfully test a solution to the quantum wiring problem, creating a 2D structure for qubits. Such structure can be built using existing integrated circuit technology and has considerably lower cross-talk.[258]
16 January – Quantum physicists report the first direct splitting of one photon into three using spontaneous parametric down-conversion which may have applications in quantum technology.[259][260]
11 February – Quantum engineers report that they created artificial atoms in silicon quantum dots for quantum computing and that artificial atoms with a higher number of electrons can be more stable qubits than previously thought possible. Enabling silicon-based quantum computers may make it possible to reuse the manufacturing technology of “classical” modern-day computer chips among other advantages.[261][262]
14 February – Quantum physicists develop a novel single-photon source which may allow bridging of semiconductor-based quantum-computers that use photons by converting the state of an electron spin to the polarisation of a photon. They showed that they can generate a single photon in a controlled way without the need for randomly formed quantum dots or structural defects in diamonds.[263][264]
25 February – Scientists visualize a quantum measurement: by taking snapshots of ion states at different times of measurement via coupling of a trapped ion qutrit to the photon environment, they showed that the changes of the degrees of superpositions, and therefore of probabilities of states after measurement, happens gradually under the measurement influence.[265][266]
2 March – Scientists report achieving repeated quantum nondemolition measurements of an electron’s spin in a silicon quantum dot: measurements that do not change the electron’s spin in the process.[267][268]
11 March – Quantum engineers report to have controlled the nucleus of a single atom using only electric fields. This was first suggested to be possible in 1961 and may be used for silicon quantum computers that use single-atom spins without needing oscillating magnetic fields. This may be especially useful for nanodevices, for precise sensors of electric and magnetic fields, as well as for fundamental inquiries into quantum nature.[269][270]
19 March – A US Army laboratory announces that its scientists analysed a Rydberg sensor’s sensitivity to oscillating electric fields over an enormous range of frequencies—from 0 to 10^12 Hz (the spectrum to 0.3 mm wavelength). The Rydberg sensor may potentially be used to detect communications signals as it could reliably detect signals over the entire spectrum and compare favourably with other established electric field sensor technologies, such as electro-optic crystals and dipole antenna-coupled passive electronics.[271][272]
23 March – Researchers report that they corrected for signal loss in a prototype quantum node that can catch, store and entangle bits of quantum information. Their concepts could be used for key components of quantum repeaters in quantum networks and extend their longest possible range.[273][274]
15 April – Researchers demonstrate a proof-of-concept silicon quantum processor unit cell which works at 1.5 kelvin – many times warmer than common quantum processors that are being developed. The finding may enable the integration of classical control electronics with a qubit array and substantially reduce costs. The cooling requirements necessary for quantum computing have been called one of the toughest roadblocks in the field.[275][276][277][278]
16 April – Scientists prove the existence of the Rashba effect in bulk perovskites. Previously researchers have hypothesized that the materials’ extraordinary electronic, magnetic and optical properties – which make it a commonly used material for solar cells and quantum electronics – are related to this effect which to date had not been proven to be present in the material.[279][280]
8 May – Researchers report to have developed a proof-of-concept of a quantum radar using quantum entanglement and microwaves which may potentially be useful for the development of improved radar systems, security scanners and medical imaging systems.[281][282][283]
12 May – Researchers report to have developed a method to selectively manipulate a layered manganite’s correlated electrons’ spin state while leaving its orbital state intact using femtosecond X-ray laser pulses. This may indicate that orbitronics – using variations in the orientations of orbitals – may be used as the basic unit of information in novel IT devices.[284][285]
19 May – Researchers report to have developed the first integrated silicon on-chip low-noise single-photon source compatible with large-scale quantum photonics.[286][287][288]
11 June – Scientists report the generation of rubidium Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in the Cold Atom Laboratory aboard the International Space Station under microgravity which could enable improved research of BECs and quantum mechanics, whose physics are scaled to macroscopic scales in BECs, support long-term investigations of few-body physics, support the development of techniques for atom–wave interferometryand atom lasers and verified the successful operation of the laboratory.[289][290][291]
15 June – Scientists report the development of the smallest synthetic molecular motor, consisting of 12 atoms and a rotor of 4 atoms, shown to be capable of being powered by an electric current using an electron scanning microscope and moving even with very low amounts of energy due to quantum tunneling.[292][293][294]
17 June – Quantum scientists report the development of a system that entangled two photon quantum communication nodes through a microwave cable that can send information in between without the photons being sent through, or occupying, the cable. On 12 June it was reported that they also, for the first time, entangled two phonons as well as erase information from their measurement after the measurement had been completed using delayed-choice quantum erasure.[295][296][297][298]
18 June – Honeywell announces a quantum computer with a quantum volume of 64, the highest at the time.[299]
13 August – Universal coherence protection is reported to have been achieved in a solid-state spin qubit, a modification that allows quantum systems to stay operational (or “coherent”) for 10,000 times longer than before.[300][301]
26 August – Scientists report that ionizing radiation from environmental radioactive materials and cosmic raysmay substantially limit the coherence times of qubits if they are not shielded adequately.[302][303][304]
28 August – Quantum engineers working for Google report the largest chemical simulation on a quantum computer – a Hartree–Fock approximation with a Sycamore computer paired with a classical computer that analyzed results to provide new parameters for a 12-qubit system.[305][306][307]
2 September – Researchers present an eight-user city-scale quantum communication network, located in Bristol, England, using already deployed fibres without active switching or trusted nodes.[308][309]
9 September – Xanadu offers a cloud quantum computing service, offering a photonic quantum computer.[310]
21 September – Researchers report the achievement of quantum entanglement between the motion of a millimetre-sized mechanical oscillator and a disparate distant spin system of a cloud of atoms.[311][312]
3 December – Chinese researchers claim to have achieved quantum supremacy, using a photonic peak 76-qubit system (43 average) known as Jiuzhang, which performed calculations at 100 trillion times the speed of classical supercomputers.[313][314][315]
29 October – Honeywell introduces a subscription for a quantum computing service, known as quantum computing as a service, with an ion trap quantum computer.[316]
12 December – At the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), IMEC shows an RF multiplexer chip that operates at temperatures as low as a few milikelvins, designed for quantum computers. Researchers from the Chalmers University of Technology developed a cryogenic low-noise amplifier (LNA) for amplifying signals from qubits, made of indium phosphide (InP) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs).[317]
21 December – Publication of research of “counterfactual quantum communication” – whose first achievement was reported in 2017 – by which information can be exchanged without any physical particle traveling between observers and without quantum teleportation.[318] The research suggests that this is based on some form of relation between the properties of modular angular momentum.[319][320][321]