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Category: computing

A persistent quantum computing error finally explained

Scientists have discovered the cause of a persistent glitch that continues to disrupt superconducting quantum computers, even when they have built-in defenses. For all their advanced hardware, superconducting quantum computers are vulnerable to errors caused by ionizing radiation from space or the environment. Radiation particles interfere with the chip substrate (the silicon base the processor is built on), which leads to the creation of rogue particles (quasiparticles) that disrupt the qubits, the basic units of quantum computers.

To protect against this, scientists developed a technique called gap engineering. This involves creating an energy barrier in the superconducting material of the qubits, making it harder for these particles to reach sensitive parts of the device.

However, it is not foolproof. Even with this defense, radiation can still cause sudden widespread errors affecting many qubits at once (error bursts). But it was not clear why.

Twisting atom-thin materials reveals new way to save computing energy

A recent study shows a new and potentially more energy-efficient way for information to be transmitted inside electronic systems, including computers and phones—without relying on electric currents or external magnetic fields.

In today’s electronics, information is transmitted by moving electrons through circuits, where ones and zeros are represented by high or low electrical signals. While this approach has enabled modern computing, the movement of electrical charge inevitably generates heat, leading to energy loss and limiting how much devices can be miniaturized and improved.

In the new study, published in Nano Letters, researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and international collaborators demonstrate that simply twisting two layers of certain atom-thin magnetic materials allows magnetic signals to carry information instead of relying on electrical currents to do the work.

Researchers discover a new pathway to building energy-efficient computing chips

The growing popularity of electronic devices—from fitness trackers and laptops to smartphones—is driving demand for more energy-efficient computing chips. Now, researchers have found a way to change the electronic properties of a common semiconductor material, potentially laying the foundation for faster, lower-power data storage and processing.

In a study published in Science, a UC Berkeley-led team of researchers discovered they can transform titanium dioxide (TiO₂) into a ferroelectric material by reducing its thickness to less than 3 nanometers (nm), roughly the diameter of a single strand of human DNA. These findings, according to the researchers, could open a pathway toward ultra-scaled, energy-efficient electronic devices.

Ferroelectric materials, with their ability to switch electric polarizations, have a long history in the semiconductor industry. Today, many researchers believe that they may hold the key to enabling next-generation, energy-efficient nanoelectronics, including non-volatile memory, logic devices and emerging computing technologies.

SpaceX files for $55 billion semiconductor fab in rural Texas for Musk’s Terafab — total chipmaking fab investment could reach $119 billion

SpaceX has filed a property tax abatement application in Grimes County, Texas, for a semiconductor fab that would cost $55 billion in its initial phases and up to $119 billion if all planned expansions are completed.

The filing, posted on the county government’s website ahead of a public hearing scheduled for June 3, describes the project as a “multi-phase, next-generation, vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing and advanced computing fabrication facility” to be built at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir site, roughly 90 miles northeast of Austin.

The capital figures in this filing far exceed what was disclosed when Elon Musk announced Terafab in March, where the project carried a $20 billion price tag. Musk later confirmed during Tesla’s earnings call that SpaceX would handle high-volume chip manufacturing while Tesla operates a smaller R&D pilot line at its Austin campus. The Grimes County filing appears to be SpaceX’s first formal step toward securing a site for that production facility.

Printed Neurons Just Talked to Living Brain Cells

Printed artificial neurons reported by Northwestern University can produce neuron-like electrical spikes and trigger responses in living mouse brain tissue. This video explains what was shown, why it matters for brain-like computing and future neural interfaces, and why it is still early laboratory research, not a human implant.

Sources:
Northwestern Now: https://news.northwestern.edu/stories…

  • Nature Nanotechnology: https://www.nature.com/natnanotech/

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    Nature Nanotechnology: https://www.nature.com/natnanotech/

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    Scientists just created exotic new forms of matter that shouldn’t exist

    A new quantum physics study reveals that simply changing a magnetic field over time can unlock entirely new forms of matter that don’t exist under normal conditions. By carefully “driving” materials with timed magnetic shifts, researchers created exotic quantum states that could be far more stable and resistant to errors—one of the biggest challenges in quantum computing. This breakthrough suggests that the future of quantum technology may depend not just on what materials are made of, but how they’re manipulated in time.

    Quantum Error Correction Faces Another Hurdle

    Newly identified correlated errors in superconducting qubits could limit the performance of error-correction schemes needed for a practical quantum computer.

    Building a working quantum computer is challenging because its basic components, qubits, are highly sensitive to environmental disturbances that compromise computation. Whereas classical bits can only undergo bit-flip errors that change 0 to 1 or vice versa, qubits also suffer from so-called phase errors that degrade the fundamental quantum interference effects essential for quantum computation. Joining several good, but not perfect, physical qubits into a logical qubit makes quantum error correction possible (see Research News: Cracking the Challenge of Quantum Error Correction). But that strategy can fail if too many qubits become faulty at the same time. In one leading hardware platform, superconducting circuits, such correlated qubit errors are typically triggered every few tens of seconds when ionizing radiation from the environment deposits energy into the chip hosting the circuits.

    Mathematical framework solves asteroid route planning exactly for first time

    A new publication from Bielefeld University sets a benchmark in optimization research. Together with an international team, Professor Michael Römer from the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics has developed a mathematical framework that solves a complex problem from space logistics exactly for the first time: the optimal planning of a route to visit several asteroids under conditions that are as close to reality as possible. The study is published in the INFORMS Journal on Computing.

    At the center of the research is the so-called Asteroid Routing Problem. It addresses the question: In what order should a spacecraft visit multiple asteroids if both travel time and fuel consumption are to be minimized? The challenge is that, unlike in classical routing problems, the travel time between destinations is constantly changing because all celestial bodies are in continuous motion.

    The idea for the study originated in Bielefeld, sparked by a success in a competition organized by the European Space Agency (ESA). During a research stay in Bielefeld, lead author Isaac Rudich revisited the topic and, together with the team, developed a new solution approach.

    Magnon lifetime extended 100x paves the way for mini quantum computers

    Magnons are tiny waves in magnetization that travel through solid magnetic materials, much like the ripples that spread across a pond when a stone is thrown into it. Unlike photons, which travel through empty space or optical fibers, magnons propagate within a magnetic solid. Their wavelengths can be reduced to the nanometer range, meaning that magnonic circuits could, in principle, fit onto a chip no larger than those found in today’s smartphones. Furthermore, as an excitation of a solid, a magnon naturally couples to numerous other fundamental quasi-particles—phonons, photons and others—making it an ideal building block for hybrid quantum systems and quantum metrology.

    Until now, there has been one major obstacle: magnons have had a very short lifetime. This lifetime—the period during which they can reliably carry quantum information—was limited to a few hundred nanoseconds at best. Far too short for any practical quantum computation. The team led by Wiener has now achieved a breakthrough: the physicists were able to measure magnon lifetimes of up to 18 microseconds—almost a hundred times longer than any value observed to date.

    In this state, magnons are no longer fleeting signals, but become long-lived, reliable carriers of quantum information, comparable to the superconducting qubits used in today’s leading quantum processors. The study has recently been published in the journal Science Advances.

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