Russia makes its quantum leap towards developing quantum computer

For the first time in Russian history, Moscow-based scientists have measured the status of a quantum bit, or qubit, an essential component of quantum computing.

For the first time in Russian history, Moscow-based scientists have measured the status of a quantum bit, or qubit, which is an essential component in the quantum computing technology, news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the Russian Quantum Center (RQC). The measurements have been made in a lab run by MISiS, a leading Russian university of technology, as part of a joint research project with the RQC. To build a qubit, the scientists are said to have chosen superconductor rings just a few microns in diameter that had nanodimensional breaks at certain points, a phenomenon based on what is known as the Josephson effect. The rings are believed to assume quantum properties in a well-calculated weak magnetic field at an ultralow temperature of 20 millikelvin (lower than minus 273 degrees Celsius). The Russian scientists are reported to have been able to measure the qubit?s signal that changes as the magnetic field varies, as well as its resonance frequency. At the moment, Canada?s D-Wave is said to be the sole commercial supplier of quantum computers in the world. Theoretically, quantum computers have the potential to considerably step up computation of complex systems and the decoding of ciphers, which can pave the way for the creation of new materials and the exact determination of how ambient conditions would affect such materials...