A team of scientists has created a strange new phase of matter in a laboratory that appears to occupy two dimensions of time . The incredible discovery could pave the way for quantum computers, extremely powerful machines that use the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform complex calculations.

Matter normally exists as a solid, liquid, or gas, although there are also many lesser-known phases, such as “time crystals.” In laboratory experiments, physicists directed a pulsing laser at atoms inside a quantum computer. The pulse pattern was inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the previous two.

Fibonacci sequence

Physicists showed that a less error-prone way of storing quantum information was possible by subjecting the qubits of a quantum computer to quasi-rhythmic laser pulses based on the Fibonacci sequence. It’s a never-before-seen phase of matter, shining a Fibonacci-inspired sequence of laser pulses onto atoms inside a quantum computer.

Even though there is still only one singular time stream, the phase has the benefits of two time dimensions. This stability is called quantum coherence and would make it possible for information to exist for much longer without being distorted. The overlay can be incredibly powerful from a computational point of view, because it simplifies troubleshooting in the right circumstances. Such technology could change the world by enabling calculations that would previously have been virtually impossible.

The work represents “a completely different way of thinking about the phases of matter,” according to computational quantum physicist Philipp Dumitrescu of the Flatiron Institute, lead author of the Nature journal article describing the phenomenon. “I’ve been working on these theoretical ideas for more than five years, and seeing them materialize in experiments is exciting.”

quantum superposition

Quantum computing is based on qubits , the quantum equivalent of computing bits. However, where bits process information in one of two states, a 1 or a 0, the qubits can be both simultaneously, a state known as quantum superposition (as in Schroedinger’s cat which is neither alive nor dead but in a superposition of both states).

Quantum entanglement is unstable, and the more delicate the state of a qubit – or the more chaos in its environment – the greater the risk that it will lose coherence, since qubits can become entangled with almost anything in their environment, with consequent errors. Achieving this quantum stability or coherence is one of the main goals of quantum computing and one of the most difficult to achieve.

The researchers say that any information stored in this new phase of matter would be much better protected against errors than with any of the configurations currently used in quantum computers. This means that the information could be held for much longer, which in turn would make quantum computing much more feasible.

The experiment

The experiment was carried out with the Quantinuum Quantum Computer in Broomfield, Colorado. While a periodic laser pulse alternated (A, B, A, B, A, B, etc.), the researchers created a quasi-periodic laser pulse regimen based on the Fibonacci sequence. In such a sequence, each part of the sequence is the sum of the previous two parts (A, AB, ABA, ABAAB, ABAABABA, etc.). This array, like a quasicrystal, is ordered without repeating and is a 2D pattern flattened in one dimension. That dimensional flattening theoretically results in two time symmetries instead of just one: the system essentially gets an extra symmetry from a nonexistent extra time dimension.

In the periodic test, the edge qubits remained quantum for about 1.5 seconds, which is already an impressive duration given that the qubits were strongly interacting with each other. With the quasi-periodic pattern, the qubits remained quantum throughout the experiment, around 5.5 seconds. This was because the added time symmetry provided more protection, experts say.

“With this quasi-periodic sequence, there is a complicated evolution that cancels out all the bugs that live on the edge. Because of that, the edge remains quantum-mechanically coherent much, much longer than would be expected,” conclude physicists from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Massachusetts. Texas in Austin.

Referencia: Philipp Dumitrescu, Dynamical topological phase realized in a trapped-ion quantum simulator, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04853-4. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04853-4