A team of physicists from ETH Zurich, led by Iwen Chu, has introduced a quantum chip that utilizes mechanical resonators for its working memory instead of electromagnetic components.
Source: ETH Zurich.The system architecture resembles that of a conventional computer, where the processor (CPU) is separate from the random access memory (RAM). In this case, the role of the CPU is played by a superconducting qubit, while the RAM consists of mechanical resonators.
Data is recorded as microscopic vibrations, akin to the oscillation of a guitar string. Each vibration pattern corresponds to a specific memory cell. According to Chu, this separation of computation and storage enhances the system's efficiency and flexibility.
Mechanical memory offers several advantages over electromagnetic memory:
- Mechanical resonators are significantly smaller than their electromagnetic counterparts;
- The chip, measuring just 7.5 by 2.5 mm, supports complex computations;
- Quantum states represented as vibrations are preserved longer, reducing the risk of data loss.
The researchers have already tested the chip on complex tasks. It successfully executed the quantum Fourier transform algorithm and period finding, operations that are critical for the functioning of future full-scale quantum systems.
This experiment demonstrated that a vibration-based architecture is suitable for creating programmable quantum computers. The researchers now plan to investigate how the technology performs when scaling the system.
In May, scientists from ETH Zurich developed a method for generating mathematically perfect randomness.
In June, the German research center Fraunhofer IPMS unveiled Q-Dice, a random number generation system based on quantum vacuum fluctuations.