Creating Quantum Materials in Bulk

Wudan Yan for ASCR Discovery | April 24, 2024 

USC computer scientist Aiichiro Nakano wants to produce quantum materials at scale, with help from Argonne supercomputers.

Aiichiro Nakano uses AI and supercomputers to simulate the manufacturing and performance of quantum materials. Photo/Aiichiro Nakano.

Quantum computers hold the promise of processing information exponentially faster than traditional machines — 100 million times the speed of your laptop. They do this by replacing the either-or 1’s and 0’s that now direct operations. In their place would be quantum bits, or qubits, which can be a 1 or a 0 at the same time, a quantum physics concept called superposition.

Such machines would find many uses, from optimizing flight paths or long-haul trucking routes and helping physicians triage patients to solving fundamental science inquiries by supercharging artificial intelligence.

One big barrier to a quantum future: manufacturing quantum chips. Chips today are mass-produced, but no factory can grind out the parts that would go inside quantum computers.

Aiichiro Nakano, a professor of computer science at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering, wants to change that, to produce quantum materials at scale. Nakano, with his colleagues Rajiv Kalia, Ken-ichi Nomura and Priya Vashishta, has a Department of Energy INCITE (Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment) award to use AI and supercomputers to simulate the manufacturing and performance of quantum materials.

Read the full story in the US Department of Energy’s ASCR Discovery magazine

Published on April 24th, 2024

Last updated on May 16th, 2024

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