Making quantum processing a reality

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Problems that take today's computers years to work out could be solved in minutes by harnessing the behaviours of matter and energy at the atomic and sub-atomic levels. The impact of the quantum information (QI) revolution will be huge, reaching fields as diverse as completely secure communications and complex modelling for material and drug engineering.
However, scientists have yet to identify which quantum systems can be controlled to provide the physical support for QI processing. The EU-funded research project 'Theory of quantum computation and many-body simulation with novel quantum technologies' (THECONSINT) worked to refine the search by exploiting recent advances in the use of quantum modes. In contrast to quantum bits, which can only assume two states, modes can theoretically span an infinite number of states. But, so far, it has not been possible to control these in large enough numbers.
The project looked at potential benefits of recently emerged quantum technologies, including circuit quantum electrodynamics, optomechanical oscillators and trapped ions. It produced a new measurement scheme for quantum technologies, with a way to define the quantum tomography of a network of confined variables.
Research resulted in innovative approaches to quantum computation by producing the cluster state through the introduction of a set of gapped and local Hamiltonians whose unique ground state is the continuous variable cluster state. A second sequential approach relaxes the requirement of preserving the coherence of a massively entangled state along the computation and helps reduce noise.
Project work has advanced scientific knowledge in this field and pioneered the approach of measurement-based quantum computation that harnesses synergies between QI and many–body systems.
However, scientists have yet to identify which quantum systems can be controlled to provide the physical support for QI processing. The EU-funded research project 'Theory of quantum computation and many-body simulation with novel quantum technologies' (THECONSINT) worked to refine the search by exploiting recent advances in the use of quantum modes. In contrast to quantum bits, which can only assume two states, modes can theoretically span an infinite number of states. But, so far, it has not been possible to control these in large enough numbers.
The project looked at potential benefits of recently emerged quantum technologies, including circuit quantum electrodynamics, optomechanical oscillators and trapped ions. It produced a new measurement scheme for quantum technologies, with a way to define the quantum tomography of a network of confined variables.
Research resulted in innovative approaches to quantum computation by producing the cluster state through the introduction of a set of gapped and local Hamiltonians whose unique ground state is the continuous variable cluster state. A second sequential approach relaxes the requirement of preserving the coherence of a massively entangled state along the computation and helps reduce noise.
Project work has advanced scientific knowledge in this field and pioneered the approach of measurement-based quantum computation that harnesses synergies between QI and many–body systems.