Scientists at the University of Sydney have used quantum computers to slowly and directly observe critical chemical reaction processes, revealing details previously invisible due to rapid timescales. This breakthrough will bring new insights to materials science, drug design, and other fields.
What happens in nature in femtoseconds can now be observed in milliseconds in the lab.
scientists of University of Sydney They have achieved a groundbreaking feat by using quantum computers to directly observe important chemical reaction processes by slowing the reaction rate by a factor of 100 billion.
Co-principal investigator and doctoral student Vanessa Olaya Agudelo said: “Understanding these fundamental processes within and between molecules can open up a world of new possibilities in materials science, drug design, or solar energy harvesting.
“It could also help improve other processes that rely on molecules interacting with light, such as how smog is produced and damage to the ozone layer.”
Credit: Sebastian Zentilomo
cone crossing phenomenon
Specifically, the research team witnessed a single interference pattern. atom This is caused by a common geometric structure in chemistry called “conic intersection”.
Conical intersections are known throughout chemistry and are essential for rapid photochemical processes such as human vision and light harvesting. photosynthesis.
Chemists have been attempting to directly observe such geometric processes in chemical mechanics since the 1950s, but given the very fast timescales involved, directly observing them is not practical. Not.
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Lead author Vanessa Olaya Agudelo and Dr. Christophe Vallaf stand in front of the quantum computer used in the experiment at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub.Credit: Stefanie Zingsheim/University of Sydney
To get around this problem, quantum researchers in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry created an experiment in a completely new way using a trapped ion quantum computer. This allowed us to design and map this highly complex problem onto a relatively small quantum device, slowing the process by a factor of 100 billion.
Their research results were published in the journal on August 28. natural chemistry.
“In nature, the whole process takes less than femtoseconds,” says Olaya Agudelo, from the Department of Chemistry. “That’s one millionth, or one quintillionth of a second.”
“Using a quantum computer, we built a system that can slow down chemical mechanics from femtoseconds to milliseconds. This allowed us to make meaningful observations and measurements.
“This has never happened before.”
Wave packets evolving around the intersection of a cone, measured experimentally using a trapped ion quantum computer at the University of Sydney.
To observe how the wave packet behaves around the intersection of a simulated cone, the researchers used a single trapped ion, a single piece of ytterbium confined in a vacuum by an electric field. of charged atoms were used.
It was then controlled and measured by applying a series of complex and precise laser pulses.
A mathematical model describing the intersection of cones was then incorporated into the trapped ion system.
The ions were then allowed to evolve around the designed conic intersection.
The researchers then created a video of the ion’s evolution around the cone’s intersection (see GIF). Each frame of the GIF displays an image that outlines the probability of finding an ion at a particular set of coordinates.
Credit: University of Sydney
The role of quantum technology
Co-author Dr Christoph Wallach from the School of Physics said: Too fast to investigate experimentally.
“Using quantum technology, we have addressed this problem.”
Dr. Valaf said this is similar to simulating the air pattern around an airplane wing in a wind tunnel.
“Our experiment was not a digital approximation of the process; it was a direct analog observation of quantum mechanics unfolding at a rate that we can observe,” he said.
In photochemical reactions such as photosynthesis, where plants obtain energy from the sun, molecules transfer energy at lightning speed, forming exchange regions known as conical crossings.
This study slows down the dynamics of quantum computers and reveals a distinct, predicted but previously unseen feature related to cone crossing in photochemistry.
Collaboration and Future Impact
With co-author and research team leader Ivan Kassar (Department of Chemistry) University of Sydney NanolaboratoryMr. “This exciting result helps us better understand ultrafast dynamics, how molecules change over the fastest timescales.
“It’s great that at the University of Sydney we have access to the best programmable quantum computers in the country to conduct these experiments.”
The quantum computer used in the experiment is located in the Quantum Control Laboratory of Professor Michael Biarchuk, the founder of Quantum Startup. Q-CTRL. This experimental effort was led by Dr. Ting Lei Tan.
Dr Tan, co-author of the study, said: “This is a great collaboration between chemical theorists and experimental quantum physicists. We are using new approaches in physics to address long-standing problems in chemistry.”
Reference: “Direct Observation of Geometric Phase Interference in Dynamics Around Conical Intersections” CH Valahu, VC Olaya-Agudelo, RJ MacDonell, T. Navickas, AD Rao, MJ Millican, JB Pérez-Sánchez, J. Yuen-Zhou , MJ Biercuk, C. Hempel, TR Tan, I. Kassal, August 28, 2023, natural chemistry.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-023-01300-3
This research was supported by a grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research. US Army Research Service Physical Science Laboratory. U.S. intelligence advanced research project activities. Lockheed Martin. Australian Defense Science and Technology Group, Sydney Quantum. University of Sydney and University of California, San Diego Partnership Collaboration Award. H. Harley and his A. Harley. and by computational resources from the Australian Government’s National Computing Infrastructure.