Much higher computing power has been unlocked for quantum computers: in fact, the first device that goes beyond the classic binary system, based only on 0 and 1, used in all traditional computers and so far also in quantum ones, is ready.
It was developed by the group of the Austrian University of Innsbruck led by Martin Ringbauer, who published the result in the journal Nature Physics.
The new quantum computer, therefore, is no longer based on qubits, the quantum information units, but on qudits, a new type of computing unit capable of exploiting many more levels of energy at the same time.
Storing information in 0s and 1s is not the most efficient way to perform calculations, but it is the simplest, which is why this system has become the undisputed standard for classic computers.
In the quantum world, however, the situation is very different: in the quantum computer used for the study, for example, information is stored in individual trapped calcium atoms, each of which has eight different states but of which only two are exploited.
This means that quantum computers already have access to a far greater number of quantum states than those they usually use.
The device developed by the researchers is able to fully exploit the potential of calcium atoms, without becoming less reliable: "quantum systems naturally have more than just two states - comments Thomas Monz, co-author of the study - and we have shown that we can control them all equally well. "
Furthermore, many of the tasks that quantum computers need, such as problems in physics, chemistry or materials science, are also naturally expressed in the language of qudits.
"Working with more states than 0 and 1 is very natural - says Ringbauer - not only for quantum computers, but also for their applications".
