A remarkable technological breakthrough is due to Microsoft's progress in the quantum field.
When we think of Microsoft, we usually think of Windows, Office or perhaps Xbox. However, the company founded by Bill Gates fifty years ago is not just a software publisher or a designer of video game consoles. Like all American tech giants, the company has diversified extensively, and although it has often been criticized - and rightly so - for not having seen the smartphone coming, the group seems to have a head start in the world of quantum computing, as it has just demonstrated today.
We've been hearing about quantum computing for quite a few years now, but the technological breakthrough announced by Microsoft could have a remarkable impact. The American firm has unveiled what it calls " the world's first quantum chip based on a new topological core architecture " and, to achieve this, Microsoft has come up with what it calls a topoconductor, i.e. a topological superconductor that " belongs to a special class of materials capable of creating a totally new state of matter - not solid, liquid or gaseous, but a topological state ".
© Microsoft
In a long and rich article published on its official website, Microsoft explains that this breakthrough "required the development of a new material stack consisting of indium arsenide and aluminum, designed and fabricated atom by atom by Microsoft. The aim was to induce the appearance of Majorana particles and exploit their unique properties to break new ground in quantum computing". Let's be honest, the explanations given by the American firm, although fascinating, go beyond our knowledge of the subject, but the promises of quantum computing are no figment of our imagination.
Last September, Microsoft had already presented some very advanced work on logic qubits, and was rolling out a roadmap that is now materializing in a very beautiful way. Better still, Microsoft can also count on the publication of an article in the journal Nature to provide a sort of scientific endorsement, if the American firm really needs one. It is also interesting to note that Microsoft's work seems to have aroused the curiosity of DARPA, the American agency in charge of developing military technologies. DARPA has selected Microsoft for its US2QC quantum measurement program. Quantum computing has only just begun...
