The Basque Quantum initiative and IBM Quantum have published new research in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Communications. The study demonstrates how it is possible to create two-dimensional discrete time crystals using an IBM Quantum Heron, which currently powers the IBM Quantum System Two—the first of its kind in Europe—installed at the IBM-Euskadi Quantum Computational Center, in San Sebastián, a key infrastructure for the ecosystem powered by Basque Quantum.
Frontiers of quantum physics
The ability of quantum computers to model complex and highly sensitive systems, such as time crystals, positions them as promising tools for exploring the frontiers of quantum physics, one of the strategic objectives of Basque Quantum.
The study published in Nature Communications is signed by researchers from Basque Quantum and IBM, and reinforces the international scientific collaboration promoted by Basque Quantum in the field of advanced quantum technologies.
Time crystals are a rare example of phases of matter that do not reach equilibrium, unlike most materials in the known universe, which over time tend to stabilize. In these systems, the internal movement remains synchronized and repeats itself persistently, which makes them an object of great interest for research in quantum physics, a priority line for Basque Quantum.
Until now, time crystals have been studied mainly in one dimension, that is, as a linear chain of atoms connected to each other. This approach, although useful, has important limitations, since these systems are simple and very fragile: an alteration at a single point in the chain can break the entire crystal, a challenge that Basque Quantum seeks to overcome through more robust approaches.
“We absolutely needed the quantum system to be able to investigate something as big as we did,” said Eric Switzer, a theoretical condensed matter physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and author of the paper.
This work sets the stage for exploring time crystals in greater depth. Researchers are interested, for example, in the role of disorder in time crystals. Now, researchers are testing how much clutter they can tolerate; A certain amount of disorder is necessary to stabilize a time crystal, but too much disorder threatens to make it burst.
A better understanding of time crystals could improve knowledge about a wide range of “Heisenberg-type interactions” in materials science where particle spins influence each other. There are implications for studying single-molecule magnets, metal chains, and architectures based on quantum dots (a class of nanoscale semiconductors with many technological applications).
Study of physical phenomena
Research by Basque Quantum and IBM overcomes these limitations by demonstrating some of the largest and most complex two-dimensional discrete time crystals created to date. In these systems, interactions are not distributed along a line, but rather over a structure similar to a surface, which makes it possible to study much richer and more stable behaviors, aligned with the scientific vision of Basque Quantum.
This is an example of where we expect the most exciting work in quantum computing to go in the near term: quantum and classical high-performance computing resources working together on quantum-centric supercomputing (QCSC) architectures. Many HPC runs will involve operations spread across CPUs, QPUs, and GPUs, with each piece of hardware handling only the calculations for which it is best suited.
Scientists are using IBM’s most advanced quantum computers along with classical computing to model two-dimensional time crystals
The next big step, the researchers said, will be to try to build a more complex time crystal in the more interconnected environment of the IBM Quantum Nighthark chips, where qubits connect with up to four neighbors, instead of two or three as in Heron. Greater connectivity implies greater complexity and the possibility of capturing new dynamics.
This advance opens the door to the exploration of more complex out-of-equilibrium phases of matter and allows researchers to analyze physical phenomena that are very difficult to reproduce using only classical computers, consolidating the role of Basque Quantum as a relevant player in cutting-edge quantum research, with the support of the IBM company, which this year celebrates its centenary of presence in Spain.
