Hey! A step toward topological quantum computing - a way to compute that uses unusual properties of particles confined to wires or thin films.
Microsoft's press release is mainly about future plans, and the headline is pure hype, but their paper in Nature says what they've actually done.
They've created superconducting wires that contain 'Majorana zero modes', and figured out how to detect whether a wire has an even or odd number of these in it.
So what the hell are Majorana zero modes?
First, a Majorana particle is a spin-1/2 particle that is its own antiparticle. There are probably no fundamental particles like this in nature, though there's a chance neutrinos are Majorana particles. But we can create all sorts of 'quasiparticles' in cleverly designed materials. These are ways for atoms and electrons to wiggle that *act* like particles. And we can create Majorana quasiparticles in superconducting wires.
But what's a zero mode?
When a long thin spring vibrates up and down it can have 0, 1, 2, 3, ... wiggles in it. When it has 0, the whole spring is moving up and down in unison. That's a zero mode. In quantum mechanics, particles are waves, and wave that's a Majorana quasiparticle in a superconducting wire can be in a zero mode like this. So it's spread out through the whole length of the wire!
In short, this is pretty futuristic technology, and I really like the physics. Whether Microsoft can carry out their next steps and turn this into a useful computer, I have no idea. They claim they can do it in a few years, "not decades".
Microsoft's press release is mainly about future plans, and the headline is pure hype, but their paper in Nature says what they've actually done.
They've created superconducting wires that contain 'Majorana zero modes', and figured out how to detect whether a wire has an even or odd number of these in it.
So what the hell are Majorana zero modes?
First, a Majorana particle is a spin-1/2 particle that is its own antiparticle. There are probably no fundamental particles like this in nature, though there's a chance neutrinos are Majorana particles. But we can create all sorts of 'quasiparticles' in cleverly designed materials. These are ways for atoms and electrons to wiggle that *act* like particles. And we can create Majorana quasiparticles in superconducting wires.
But what's a zero mode?
When a long thin spring vibrates up and down it can have 0, 1, 2, 3, ... wiggles in it. When it has 0, the whole spring is moving up and down in unison. That's a zero mode. In quantum mechanics, particles are waves, and wave that's a Majorana quasiparticle in a superconducting wire can be in a zero mode like this. So it's spread out through the whole length of the wire!
In short, this is pretty futuristic technology, and I really like the physics. Whether Microsoft can carry out their next steps and turn this into a useful computer, I have no idea. They claim they can do it in a few years, "not decades".
![[DK]](/data/avatars/s/57/57999.jpg?1720990206){kind=avatar}
