World's First! Microsoft's Majorana 1 Quantum Chip Can Solve Industrial, Societal Problems| Explained

Microsoft has unveiled Majorana 1, the world's first quantum chip driven by a new Topological Core architecture. It makes use of the first topoconductor in history, a novel material that can see and control Majorana particles to create more dependable and scalable qubits—the fundamental units of quantum computing.

Microsoft said that this new architecture provides a way to fit a million qubits on a single chip that is small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand. The threshold of a million qubits is necessary for quantum computers to produce solutions, such as dissolving microplastics into innocuous byproducts or creating self-healing materials for manufacturing, healthcare, or building. 

According to the tech major, a one-million-qubit quantum computer can perform tasks that all of the world’s computers combined cannot. Majorana 1 will enable quantum computers to solve industrial and societal problems faster, the company added.

A Majorana fermion, also known as a Majorana particle, is a hypothetical fermion (subatomic particle) that possesses the same properties as both a particle and its own antiparticle. The theoretical Majorana qubit is desirable for fault-tolerant quantum computing since it is naturally resistant to noise.

Notably, qubits are susceptible to environmental perturbations and errors, which can make them fall apart and information to be lost. The topoconductor, or topological superconductor, is a unique class of material with the ability to produce a completely new state of matter, one that is topological rather than solid, liquid, or gas. This is used to create a faster, smaller, more reliable qubit that can be controlled digitally. 

Microsoft created a whole new materials stack consisting of aluminium and indium arsenide to obtain new quantum particles known as Majoranas and utilise their unique qualities to advance quantum computing.  

For commercial applications, trillions of operations on a million qubits are needed, which would be unaffordable with current methods that depend on analog control of each qubit. The new measurement technique developed by Microsoft simplifies the operation of quantum computing by allowing qubits to be controlled digitally. The company said it has placed eight topological qubits on a chip designed to scale to one million.

A quantum architecture that can supply a million qubits or more and achieve trillions of rapid operations would be necessary to advance quantum computing. Today’s announcement puts that horizon within years, not decades, Microsoft said.

Using quantum mechanics, million-qubit machines can solve chemistry, materials science, and other problems that are too complex for today’s traditional computers. These can include, e.g.: why materials suffer corrosion or cracks, helping create self-healing materials for repairing everything from bridges to phones to airplane parts; cleaning up microplastics or resolving carbon pollution, breaking them down into byproducts or creating non-toxic materials; or using enzymes more effectively in healthcare and agriculture in order to enhance soil productivity and yield.

Quantum computing can also enable organisations, engineers, and scientists to design things right the first time. Combined with AI, it can also enable experts to create materials or molecules using simple language and avoid trial and error for years.