Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 quantum processor
Microsoft has introduced Majorana 1, the first quantum processor with topological qubits, capable of scaling to a million qubits, enhancing quantum computing, and simplifying error correction for practical applications.
Read original article
Microsoft has announced the Majorana 1, the world's first quantum processor utilizing topological qubits, marking a significant advancement in quantum computing. This processor is built with a new class of materials known as topoconductors, which enable the creation of topological superconductivity, a theoretical state of matter. Majorana 1 is designed to scale up to a million qubits on a single chip, enhancing the potential for practical quantum computing. The processor features a hardware-protected topological qubit, which is small, fast, and digitally controlled, and is part of a roadmap leading to reliable quantum computation. Microsoft aims to develop a fault-tolerant prototype based on these qubits within a few years, as part of DARPA's Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing program. The company has also introduced a measurement-based approach to quantum error correction, simplifying the management of qubits and enhancing the stability of quantum information. This innovation is expected to facilitate the transition from theoretical research to practical applications in quantum computing, with DARPA recognizing Microsoft's efforts as a validation of their roadmap.
- Microsoft has unveiled Majorana 1, the first quantum processor using topological qubits.
- The processor can scale to a million qubits on a single chip, enhancing quantum computing capabilities.
- Majorana 1 utilizes topoconductors to create a new state of matter, enabling better qubit performance.
- Microsoft is on track to develop a fault-tolerant quantum prototype in collaboration with DARPA.
- The new measurement-based approach simplifies quantum error correction, improving qubit management.
Related
Microsoft and Quantinuum create 12 logical qubits
Microsoft and Quantinuum created 12 logical qubits with a low error rate, demonstrating their reliability in a hybrid chemistry simulation, and plan to expand their qubit-virtualization system for future advancements.
Microsoft performs operations with multiple error-corrected qubits
Microsoft has tripled its logical qubits, nearing a hundred, and developed new error correction methods in collaboration with Atom Computing, marking significant progress in practical quantum computing applications.
Microsoft announces the best performing logical qubits on record (September)
Microsoft has made significant strides in quantum computing, achieving superior logical qubits and collaborating with Quantinuum and Atom Computing to enhance Azure Quantum, impacting fields like chemistry and healthcare.
Microsoft's Majorana 1 chip carves new path for quantum computing
Microsoft has launched the Majorana 1 chip, a quantum chip with Topological Core architecture, capable of scaling to one million qubits, enhancing reliability and addressing complex industrial challenges.
Microsoft announces quantum computing breakthrough with new Majorana 1 chip
Microsoft introduced the Majorana 1 chip, enhancing quantum computing with up to a million qubits using Majorana particles for stability. This follows 17 years of research and DARPA's selection for further development.
- Many express doubts about the practicality and current usefulness of topological qubits, questioning their readiness for real-world applications.
- Concerns are raised about the history of exaggerated claims and retractions related to Majorana particles, leading to skepticism about Microsoft's progress.
- Some commenters highlight the potential for significant advancements in quantum computing, while others remain cautious about the timeline for achieving a million qubits.
- There is a discussion about the implications for cryptography and the future of quantum computing in general.
- Overall, the community reflects a blend of optimism for technological advancements and skepticism regarding the feasibility of Microsoft's claims.
38 commentsThe idea behind topological quantum computing is to utilize quantum materials whose low-energy physics looks like an error correcting code. Since these systems are very large (macroscopic number of atoms), the error rates are (theoretically) very low, ie the qubit is fault tolerant by construction, without any additional error correction. In reality, we do not know how good these qubits will be at finite temperature, with real life noise, etc.
Moreover, these states do not just occur in nature by themselves, so their construction requires engineering, and this is what Microsoft tries to do.
Unfortunately, Majoranas in nanowires have some history of exaggerated claims and data manipulation. Sergey Frolov's [1] twitter, one of the people behind original Majorana zero bias peaks paper, was my go-to source for that, but it looks like he deleted it.
There were also some concerns about previous Microsoft paper [2,3] as well as the unusual decision to publish it without the details to reproduce it [4].
In my opinion, Microsoft does solid science, it's just the problem they're trying to solve is very hard and there are many ways in which the results can be misleading. I also think it is likely that they are making progress on Majoranas, but I would be surprised if they will be able to show quantum memory/single qubit gates soon.
[1] https://spinespresso.substack.com/p/has-there-been-enough-re...
[2] https://x.com/PhysicsHenry/status/1670184166674112514
[3] https://x.com/PhysicsHenry/status/1892268229139042336
[4] https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.2...
https://cacm.acm.org/news/majorana-meltdown-jeopardizes-micr...
So they are not all in a superposition with each other? They talk about a million of these nanowires but that looks a bit like quantum dots?
>can create an entirely new state of matter – not a solid, liquid or gas but a topological state
- Topological phases of matter (similar, but not identical to the one discussed here) have been known for decades and were first observed experimentally in the 1980s.
- Creating Majorana quasiparticles has a long history of false starts and retracted claims (discovery of Majoranas in related systems was announced in 2012 and 2018 and both were since retracted).
- The quoted Nature paper is about measurements on one qubit. One. Not 100, not 1000, a single qubit.
- Unless they think they can scale this up really quickly it seems like its a very long (or perhaps non-existent) road to 10^6 qubits.
- If they could scale it up so quickly, it would have been way more convincing to wait a bit (0-2 years) and show a 100 or 1000 qubit machine that would be comparable to efforts from Google, IBM, etc (which have their own problems).
If that is true, it sounds like having a plan to scale to millions of logical qubits on a chip is even more impressive.
https://qdev.nbi.ku.dk/research/topological_quantum_systems/...
Is there any way to secure at all?
Long Term - MS seems pretty committed and serious. Putting in the time/money for a long term vision. Maybe a decade from now, we'll be bowing down to an all powerful MS God/Oracle/AI.
What is Win 11 boot time on this processor ? Will it be supported in the next version of Windows ? /s
Related
Microsoft and Quantinuum create 12 logical qubits
Microsoft and Quantinuum created 12 logical qubits with a low error rate, demonstrating their reliability in a hybrid chemistry simulation, and plan to expand their qubit-virtualization system for future advancements.
Microsoft performs operations with multiple error-corrected qubits
Microsoft has tripled its logical qubits, nearing a hundred, and developed new error correction methods in collaboration with Atom Computing, marking significant progress in practical quantum computing applications.
Microsoft announces the best performing logical qubits on record (September)
Microsoft has made significant strides in quantum computing, achieving superior logical qubits and collaborating with Quantinuum and Atom Computing to enhance Azure Quantum, impacting fields like chemistry and healthcare.
Microsoft's Majorana 1 chip carves new path for quantum computing
Microsoft has launched the Majorana 1 chip, a quantum chip with Topological Core architecture, capable of scaling to one million qubits, enhancing reliability and addressing complex industrial challenges.
Microsoft announces quantum computing breakthrough with new Majorana 1 chip
Microsoft introduced the Majorana 1 chip, enhancing quantum computing with up to a million qubits using Majorana particles for stability. This follows 17 years of research and DARPA's selection for further development.