At the Lebedev Institute of Physics under the Russian Academy of Sciences, scientists have just announced a breakthrough when successfully demonstrating a 70-qubit quantum computer based on ion traps. The point that surprised international experts is not only the number of qubits, but also the breakthrough method of information encryption that helps optimize hardware power by double.
Qubit (quantum bit) is the most basic information unit in quantum computers, operating based on quantum mechanics.
Accordingly, instead of chasing after a huge number of ions that are very difficult to control, the Russian research group only used a chain of 35 ytterbium ions. The secret lies in the fact that they controlled up to 4 energy states in each individual particle. This means that each ion now carries the power of 2 qubits, helping the machine achieve 70 qubits of performance but still maintain stability.
In the global quantum race, controlling a long ion chain is an extremely difficult problem because when the number of particles increases, the fluctuations will become chaotic and easily lead to errors. Most current systems usually stop at 35 particles to maintain safety. However, Russian scientists have taken a different path: Instead of lengthening the chain, they compress information inside the particles.
We use a 4-layer quantum system, allowing each ion to operate equivalent to 2 qubits," expert Ilya Zalivako explained. This is a strong response to the current Western quantum architectures, proving that sophistication in encryption can replace the expansion of bulky physical scale.
The operating principle of this system is based on collective oscillation. When scientists use laser pulses to impact an ion, the entire chain will oscillate rhythmically. This close connection helps the system perform super-complex parallel operations with extremely high accuracy.
To control each tiny ion, the system uses two mobile laser beams capable of aiming at targets at extremely high speeds. The measurement results show that the accuracy of single-qubit operations reaches 99.92% - an extremely impressive figure even compared to systems from Google or IBM.
Currently, this 70-qubit machine is no longer in the laboratory glass cabinet. It has been connected to a cloud computing platform to test real-world algorithms. This means that researchers can begin to solve problems of cracking codes, simulating pharmaceutical molecules or optimizing global logistics networks.
The emergence of encryption technology from Russia has officially opened a new direction for the supercomputer industry. Instead of expanding the number of physical particles, thoroughly exploiting the states inside the atom will be the key to solving huge problems of encryption, material emulation and the development of new generation pharmaceuticals in the near future.
