(ORDO NEWS) — Physicists fired a series of laser pulses that mimic the Fibonacci sequence on a quantum computer and created a new phase of matter. It is believed that it is much more reliable in storing information than current methods.
This is a potentially massive breakthrough that could make quantum computers much more reliable, since the current method of keeping qubits in their quantum state is unreliable.
What scientists have discovered
In quantum computing, a one or zero is stored not as a normal bit, but as a qubit.
A qubit is notable in that it can be one or zero at the same time, potentially allowing quantum computers to perform much more complex calculations that conventional computers take much longer to perform.
A huge disadvantage of qubits is that they require an extremely controlled environment in which a slight disturbance, such as a tiny change in temperature, can cause the qubits to lose their quantum states and information.
In the experiment, an ordinary qubit at each end of a string of ten atoms retained its quantum state for 1.5 seconds.
But when the scientists blasted those atoms with a pulse of laser light in time with the Fibonacci numbers, the qubits lasted a whopping 5.5 seconds for the technology in its current form.
What is the Fibonacci Sequence
This is one of the most famous formulas in mathematics, reflecting a set of numbers, where each following is the sum of the two previous ones.
It looks like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and beyond.
The Fibonacci numbers are sometimes referred to as the “code of nature” because the sequence is found in so many things that we encounter every day and actually “governs” the size and design of plants, animals, objects, phenomena and more.
The visual embodiment of this sequence is the golden ratio.
According to physicists, the reason for what is happening lies in time itself.
We realized that by using quasi-periodic sequences based on the Fibonacci pattern, you can make the system behave as if there are two different directions of time, – said the study’s lead author Philippe Dumisrescu, a research fellow at the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Fletiron Institute.
But why exactly the Fibonacci numbers? When you fire laser pulses that follow Fibonacci numbers, they act like a kind of quasi-crystal – a structure of matter that follows a pattern but is not periodic. In other words, ordered but not repetitive.
With this quasi-periodic sequence, a complex evolution takes place, canceling all errors living on the edge.
Therefore, the edge remains quantum mechanically coherent for much, much longer than one would expect, Dumisrescu concludes in a press release.
It is too early to talk about the practical application of the discovery, but it gives hope that one day we will see quantum computers exactly the way that scientists around the world dream of.
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