Could we soon all be using QUANTUM PCs? Intel reveals a breakthrough silicon chip that brings powerful, hack-proof computers 'one step closer'

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Powerful computers capable of mind-boggling calculations have moved 'a step closer' to reality, thanks to a breakthrough at Intel.

The technology firm has created a programmable quantum processor made with silicon, the same material used in conventional chips.

Previous developments in quantum computing have relied on special superconductive materials that work in near absolute-zero temperatures - making them difficult to create.

Intel's new device is a move closer to the creation of quantum chips that work in real-world conditions.

It could also pave the way for machines that are completely impenetrable to hackers using conventional methods of attack. 

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Powerful computers capable of mind-boggling calculations have moved a step closer to becoming a reality, thanks to a breakthrough at Intel. This image shows a prototype device created with the help of Dutch firm QuTech

Intel created the prototype device with the help of Dutch firm QuTech, based at Delft University of Technology.

Quantum computing promises to harness the strange ability of subatomic particles to exist in more than one state at a time. 

This could allow them to solve problems that are too complex or time-consuming for existing computers, from modelling climate change to curing cancer. 

The team used microwave energy to alter the alignment of two electron particles suspended in silicon.

This let them programme two simple quantum algorithms. 

While this is considerably less powerful than other systems already in existence, if it can be scaled up quantum computers would be more easy to control and manufacture.

Quantum processors operate using qubits, which can store information in binary code – as a 0, a 1, or an arbitrary combination of 0 and 1 at the same time.

Among the challenges researchers must overcome before quantum computing can become a commercial reality is the incredibly fragile nature of these qubits. 

Intel's new technology, called a spin qubit, addresses problems posed by traditional approaches to creating qubits, dubbed superconducting qubits.

In a written statement, a company spokesman said: 'Superconducting qubits are quite large and they operate in systems the size of 55-gallon drums.

'This makes it hard to scale up the design of the quantum system to the millions of qubits necessary to create a truly useful commercial system.

'Spin qubits, in comparison to their superconducting counterparts, offer a few advantages in addressing these challenges.' 

Spin qubits resemble the semiconductor electronics and transistors as we know them today.

Quantum processors operate using qubits, which can store information in binary code – as a 0, a 1, or an arbitrary combination of 0 and 1 at the same time. This images shows a 2014 prototype of a Google qubit known as a transmon

They deliver their quantum power by leveraging the spin of a single electron on a silicon device and controlling the movement with tiny, microwave pulses. 

Spin qubits are much smaller in size and the amount of time they can store information is expected to be longer than rival approaches. 

That gives them an advantage as researchers aim to scale quantum computing systems to the millions of qubits that will be required for a commercial system.   

They can also operate at higher temperatures, up to 50 times warmer than superconducting qubits. 

Spin qubits resemble the semiconductor electronics and transistors as we know them today (pictured). Intel's new device is a move closer to the creation of quantum chips that work in real-world conditions

Intel has incorporated the spin qubits on its 300 mm process technology using isotopically pure wafers sourced specifically for the production of spin-qubit test chips. 

Fabricated in the same facility as Intel’s advanced transistor technologies, Intel is now testing the initial wafers.

Within a couple of months, the company expects to be producing many wafers per week, each with thousands of small qubit arrays. 

QuTech will announce their full findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, being held from February 15 to 19 in Austin, Texas. 

They have also been published in a paper in the journal Nature.

QUANTUM COMPUTING: OPERATING ON THE BASIS OF A CIRCUIT BEING ON AND OFF AT THE SAME TIME

The key to a quantum computer is its ability to operate on the basis of a circuit not only being 'on' or 'off', but occupying a state that is both 'on' and 'off' at the same time.

While this may seem strange, it's down to the laws of quantum mechanics, which govern the behaviour of the particles which make up an atom.

At this micro scale, matter acts in ways that would be impossible at the macro scale of the universe we live in.

Quantum mechanics allows these extremely small particles to exist in multiple states, known as 'superposition', until they are either seen or interfered with.

A scanning tunneling microscope shows a quantum bit from a phosphorus atom precisely positioned in silicon. Scientists have discovered how to make the qubits 'talk to one another

A good analogy is that of a coin spinning in the air. It cannot be said to be either a 'heads' or 'tails' until it lands.

The heart of modern computing is binary code, which has served computers for decades.

While a classical computer has 'bits' made up of zeros and ones, a quantum computer has 'qubits' which can take on the value of zero or one, or even both simultaneously.   

One of the major stumbling blocks for the development of quantum computers has been demonstrating they can beat classical computers.

Google, IBM, and Intel are among companies competing to achieve this.

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