Microsoft's Majorana 1 quantum computing chip uses a new kind of superconductor

Microsoft has introduced Majorana 1, a chip for quantum computing, which it said will enable computers to solve incredibly difficult industrial-scale problems in mere years instead of the decades current machines need. The company explained that Majorana 1 is the first quantum computing chip that uses a Topological Core architecture. Specifically, it uses a new type of material called a topoconductor or a topological superconductor that can create Majoranas — a state of matter that's not a solid, a liquid or a gas.

Majoranas were first predicted in the 1930s, but they do not exist in nature: They need to be brought into existence with the right materials under the right conditions. Microsoft's topoconductor wire, which the company built atom by atom for precision, combines indium arsenide with aluminum. When a topoconductor wire is cooled to near absolute zero and tuned with magnetic fields, it forms Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs) at its ends. Majorana qubits are more stable than current alternatives, Microsoft explained. They're fast, small and can be digitally controlled, and they have unique properties that can protect quantum information. 

Since the company's chip architecture joins topoconductor nanowires together to form an "H," each unit has four controllable Majoranas that make up one qubit, the basic unit in quantum computing. The H units can be connected, and Microsoft has already managed to put eight of them on a single chip. As you can see in the image above, the chip can fit in one's hand and can be easily deployed to data centers. Microsoft designed the chip to be able to fit one million qubits, because that's the threshold anybody developing quantum computers has to reach for their creation to be able to truly make a difference in the world.

A million-qubit machine could lead to self-healing materials that can repair cracks in planes, Microsoft said, or to catalysts that can break down all types of plastic pollutants into valuable byproducts. It could also allow scientists to perform computations for the extraction of enzymes that can boost soil fertility or promote sustainable growth of food for the sake of ending world hunger. Microsoft's Majorana 1 requires more parts than just the topoconductor to work, and the company needs more years to get all the elements to work together at a bigger scale. Figuring out how to stack the topoconductor's materials just right was one of its biggest challenges, however, and Microsoft had already conquered that. 

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