Quantum technology is expected to fundamentally change many key areas of society.
Researchers are convinced that there are many more useful quantum properties and applications
to explore than those we know today.
A team of researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now developed
open-source, freely available software that will pave the way for new discoveries in the
field and accelerate quantum research significantly.
Within a few decades, quantum technology is expected to become a key technology in areas
such as health, communication, defence and energy.
The power and potential of the technology lie in the odd and very special properties
of quantum particles.
Of particular interest to researchers in the field are the superconducting properties of
quantum particles that give components perfect conductivity with unique magnetic properties.
These superconducting properties are considered conventional today and have already paved
the way for entirely new technologies used in applications such as magnetic resonance
imaging equipment, maglev trains and quantum computer components.
However, years of research and development remain before a quantum computer can be expected
to solve real computing problems in practice, for example.
The research community is convinced that there are many more revolutionary discoveries to
be made in quantum technology than those we know today.
Basic research in quantum materials is the foundation of all quantum technology innovation,
from the birth of the transistor in 1947, through the laser in the 1960s to the quantum
computers of today.
However, experiments on quantum materials are often very resource-intensive to develop
and conduct, take many years to prepare and mostly produce results that are difficult
to interpret.
Now, however, a team of researchers at Chalmers have developed the open-source software SuperConga,
which is free for everyone to use, and specifically designed to perform advanced simulations and
analyses of quantum components.
The programme operates at the mesoscopic level, which means that it can carry out simulations
that are capable of ‘picking up’ the strange properties of quantum particles, and also
apply them in practice.
The open-source code is the first of its kind in the world and is expected to be able to
explore completely new superconducting properties and eventually pave the way for quantum computers
that can use advanced computing to tackle societal challenges in several areas.
These new superconductors continue to be highly enigmatic materials – just as their conventional
siblings once were when they were discovered in a laboratory more than a hundred years
ago.
After that discovery, it would be more than 40 years before researchers could describe
them in theory.
The Chalmers researchers now hope that their open-source code can contribute to completely
new findings and areas of application.
To be able to explore revolutionary new discoveries, tools are needed that can study and utilise
the extraordinary quantum properties at the minimal particle level, and can also be scaled
up large enough to be used in practice.
Researchers need to work at mesoscopic scale.
This lies at the interface between the microscopic scale, i.e. the atomic level at which the
quantum properties of the particles can still be utilised, and the macroscopic scale which
measures everyday objects in our world which, unlike quantum particles, are subject to the
laws of classical physics.
On account of the software’s ability to work at this mesoscopic level, the Chalmers
researchers now hope to make life easier for researchers and students working with quantum
physics.