Chinese researchers recently designed more efficient semiconductor chips, paving the way for realizing full quantum-logic operations in semiconductor multiqubit systems.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' (CAS) Key Laboratory of Quantum Information have designed a quantum processor with six quantum dots for the first time in the world, and demonstrated the quantum control of the Toffoli gate, according to a statement the laboratory sent to the Global Times on Thursday.
"The chip's efficiency is greatly improved by a quantum processor with six quantum dots and the Toffoli gate. It offers a prototype for integrated semiconductor chips," Guo Guoping, a researcher at the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information under the CAS, who leads the research, told the Global Times.
The research paves a way for realizing full quantum-logic operations in semiconductor multiqubit systems, said Guo.
Physical Review Applied published the article on the achievement on February 15, which is entitled Controlled Quantum Operations of a Semiconductor Three-Qubit System.
The quantum chip is the core element that distinguishes a quantum computer from an ordinary one. Quantum computers are expected to overtake existing computers in both speed and performance, The People's Daily reported in 2016.
However, Guo told the Global Times on Thursday that China remains in the experimental research phase in quantum technology. There is a long way to go before commercialization, Guo added.
The Toffoli gate is a three-qubit operation that changes the state of a target qubit conditioned on the state of two control qubits. It is able to break the limit of coherence time and improve the efficiency of quantum computing.
Before the demonstration of the three-qubit gate, they had developed ultrafast universal control of the charged qubit based on semiconductor quantum dots in 2013, and achieved the controlled rotation of two-charged qubits in 2015, the statement says.
The team has received financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, CAS and the Ministry of Education.
Chip-related stocks surged when the stock market opened on Thursday, including Unigroup Guoxin and Will Semiconductor Company, stcn.com reported.
