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Microsoft spends big to build a computer straight out of science fiction

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is putting its considerable financial and engineering muscle into the experimental field of quantum computing as it works to build a machine that could tackle problems beyond the reach of today’s digital computers.

Mr Todd Holmdahl at Microsoft, where he will direct the company's quantum computing efforts, in Redmond, Washington on Nov 18, 2016. The computer giant is putting its considerable financial and engineering muscle into the experimental field of quantum computing in hopes of building a super-powerful device that relies on subatomic particles instead of transistors. Photo: The New York Times

Mr Todd Holmdahl at Microsoft, where he will direct the company's quantum computing efforts, in Redmond, Washington on Nov 18, 2016. The computer giant is putting its considerable financial and engineering muscle into the experimental field of quantum computing in hopes of building a super-powerful device that relies on subatomic particles instead of transistors. Photo: The New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is putting its considerable financial and engineering muscle into the experimental field of quantum computing as it works to build a machine that could tackle problems beyond the reach of today’s digital computers.

There is a growing optimism in the tech world that quantum computers, superpowerful devices that were once the stuff of science fiction, are possible — and may even be practical. If these machines work, they will have an impact on work in areas such as drug design and artificial intelligence, as well as offer a better understanding of the foundations of modern physics.

Microsoft’s decision to move from pure research to an expensive effort to build a working prototype underscores a global competition among technology companies, including Google and IBM, that are also making significant investments in search of breakthroughs.

In the exotic world of quantum physics, Microsoft has set itself apart from its competitors by choosing a different path. The company’s approach is based on “braiding” particles known as anyons — which physicists describe as existing in just two dimensions — to form the building blocks of a supercomputer that would exploit the unusual physical properties of subatomic particles.

Leading researchers acknowledge that barriers still remain to building useful quantum machines, both at the level of basic physics and in developing new kinds of software to exploit certain qualities of devices known as qubits that hold out the possibility of computing in ways not possible for today’s digital systems.

Unlike conventional transistors, which can be only on or off at any one time, representing a digital 1 or 0, qubits can exist in superposition, or simultaneously in both states. If qubits are placed in an “entangled” state — physically separated but acting as though they are deeply intertwined — with many other qubits, they can represent a vast number of values simultaneously. A quantum computer would most likely consist of hundreds or thousands of qubits.

A variety of alternative research programmes are trying to create qubits using different materials and designs. The Microsoft approach, known as topological quantum computing, is based on a field that took on new energy when this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists who had done fundamental work in forms of matter that may exist in just two dimensions. The New York Times

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