Microsoft’s Majorana 1: A Breakthrough in Quantum Computing with Topological Qubits

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What’s in Today’s Article?

Recently, Microsoft announced Majorana 1, a new quantum computing chip developed using engineered particles in a new state of matter, which the company sees as a breakthrough.
With this Microsoft aims to develop quantum computers capable of solving industrial-scale problems within years (2027-29) rather than decades.
Though, the company has not released any performance data on its quantum chip yet.

For the past 20 years, Microsoft has focused on developing topological qubits, which are more stable and require less error correction than traditional qubits.
- Topological qubits are a more stable type of quantum bit, the basic unit of quantum computers.
- They store information in the way specially engineered particles called anyons are arranged and braided, not in the particles themselves, making them less prone to errors.
  - Anyons are two-dimensional systems. They are neither fermions nor bosons, but have statistical properties in between the two.

Developing these qubits posed a steep learning curve, as Majorana fermions—particles that are their own antiparticles—had never been physically observed before.
- A Majorana fermion is a hypothetical particle in particle physics that is its own antiparticle, meaning it acts identically to its antiparticle.
- Essentially, it is a fermion that can be considered as its own mirror image, unlike other particles which have distinct antiparticles.
Although theorized by Ettore Majorana over 80 years ago, evidence of a type known as Majorana zero modes (MZMs) has only emerged in the last decade.
- MZM is a special type of quantum state that appears at the ends of certain topological superconductors.
- It is characterized by being its own antiparticle, meaning it acts like both matter and antimatter simultaneously, and exists at zero energy.
- Due to this it becomes a promising candidate for robust quantum computation.

To fabricate these new particles, Microsoft developed topoconductors, made by combining indium arsenide (a semiconductor) and aluminum (a superconductor).
- Just as semiconductors enabled modern electronics, topoconductors pave the way for scalable quantum systems, potentially reaching a million qubits to solve complex industrial and societal challenges.
When cooled to near absolute zero and exposed to magnetic fields, these materials merge superconductivity with semiconductors, enabling the creation of a new type of qubit.

Microsoft’s Majorana 1 is an eight-qubit chip, which is modest compared to rivals like Google’s Willow (106 qubits) and IBM’s R2 Heron (156 qubits).
However, its Topological Core architecture could allow scaling up to a million qubits, a necessary threshold for solving real-world problems.

Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip features aluminum nanowires arranged in an “H” shape.
Each “H” structure has four controllable Majorana particles, forming a single qubit.

Microsoft envisions Majorana 1 helping to develop breakthroughs such as:
- Breaking down microplastics into harmless byproducts.
- Inventing self-healing materials for construction, manufacturing, and healthcare.
Microsoft envisions using quantum computing with generative AI to design new materials or molecules through natural language input.
Quantum computing could generate synthetic data to improve AI model training.

Quantum systems are highly sensitive to environmental interference, causing errors.

Classical Computers
- Classical computers process information using binary code (bits) with values of either 0 or 1.
- They rely on logic gates (AND, OR, XOR, NOT) to manipulate data.
Quantum Computers
- Quantum computers use qubits, which can exist in multiple states simultaneously (superposition).
- A qubit can have probabilities assigned to both 0 and 1, allowing it to store and process more information than a classical bit.
- Quantum gates (H-gate, Pauli gates) enable the processing of qubits and are reversible in nature.
Supercomputers
- Supercomputers use advanced architectures with GPUs and multi-core processing to perform calculations faster than regular computers.
- Despite their power, they still follow classical computing principles and logic gates.
Quantum vs. Supercomputers
- While supercomputers enhance classical processing speed, quantum computers can solve complex problems that classical and supercomputers cannot.
- Quantum gates enable unique computational abilities beyond traditional logic gates.