On "Quantum Breakthroughs"

Single Molecules as Qubits are real.

Hey Everyone,

I will be posting significantly less often between December 15th and January 8th due to the holidays.

There is something we have to talk about in reference to Quantum computing.

The media and PR around Quantum computing always talks in terms of “breakthroughs”. It’s pretty unfortunate because one there is actually is a real one, we are sensitized to it.

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Single Molecules as Qubits

In recent times, physicists have been able to 'entangle' individual molecules for the first time. This is no small feat. We have to give credit where credit is due.

Physicists from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have taken the first steps toward building quantum computers using individual molecules.

They trapped with optical tweezers, with two teams reporting their results in making pairs of calcium monofluoride molecules interact and become entangled, a key process in quantum computing.

December 7th, 2023 announced

Two teams report their results in Science on 7 December^1,2, in both cases making pairs of calcium monofluoride molecules interact so that they became entangled — a crucial effect for quantum computing.

The two papers constitute a “landmark result”, says Adam Kaufman, a physicist at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Very cool molecules

Both studies used arrays of optical tweezers with one molecule trapped in each tweezer unit.

Through laser techniques, they cooled the molecules to temperatures of tens of microkelvin, just millionths of a degree above absolute zero. In this state, the molecules were close to being completely still.

1. The studies used arrays of optical tweezers to trap and cool the molecules to temperatures just above absolute zero, allowing for precise control of their rotation.

2. Non-rotating molecules represented the ‘0’ state and rotating ones the ‘1’ state of qubits, with the dipolar interaction of molecules providing an additional method for interaction.