Quantum computer discovers bizarre particle that remembers its past

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. UK-based firm Quantinuum used its new H2 quantum processor to create and manipulate these non-Abelian anyons for the first time, adding the work was a significant step towards practical quantum computing. “Our newly-launched H2 quantum processor is the first machine that can achieve this breakthrough moment,” said Quantinuum founder and CEO Ilyas Khan. Mr Khan said: “We are announcing for the first time the detection and creation of topological qubits that could become the basis for a quantum computer that solves complex problems, rather than something that is merely a proof of concept.” For the system to work, topological qubits require the presence of a type of exotic particle known as non-Abelian anyons, which encode information using a technique known as braiding. Prof Hensinger, who is also and chief scientist and cofounder at quantum computing spin-out company, Universal Quantum, added: “The breakthrough reported by Quantinuum corresponds to the experimental demonstration of a particular quantum state that is interesting for scientists because of its particular properties.