David Kearns, a Digital Journalist and Media Officer at UCD University Relations, has reported that an "analogue computer developed by researchers at UCD and Stanford University could solve some of the most exciting unanswered questions in quantum physics."
The research, published in Nature Physics in Janurary, is accessible to UCD students. Titled Quantum simulation of an exotic quantum critical point in a two-site charge Kondo circuit, the research represents a major accomplishment in the field of Quantum Physics.
Speaking in Silicon Republic, Dr Andrew Mitchell, director of the UCD Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology (C-QuEST), stated that the search for superconducting materials that can operate at room temperature has been described as the “holy grail" of physics research.
Dr Mitchell stated: “That kind of computation is far beyond current capabilities because of the exponential computing time and memory requirements needed to simulate the properties of realistic models," further clarifying: "However, the technological and engineering advances driving the digital revolution have brought with them the unprecedented ability to control matter at the nanoscale," as reported in Silicon Republic.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reports that "researchers could use [the scaled-up quantum simulator] to simulate more complicated systems and begin answering some of the most tantalizing questions in physics." Dr Mitchell of UCD is understood to have been responsible for the theory and modelling, while the Stanford team have built and operated the device.