"Researchers Take a Step Towards Turning Interactions That Normally Ruin Quantum Information into a Way of Protecting It"
Researchers have discovered a method for predicting the behavior of many-body quantum systems that are coupled to their environment. The study demonstrates a method for protecting quantum information in quantum devices, which is essential for the practical use of quantum technology. In a study published in Physical Review Letters, researchers from Aalto University in Finland and IAS Tsinghua University in China describe a novel method for predicting the behavior of quantum systems, such as groups of particles, while they are connected to the outside world. Connecting a system, such as a quantum computer, to its environment typically results in decoherence and leaks, which destroy any knowledge about what is occurring inside the system. Now, researchers have created a method that transforms this dilemma into its solution. In the latest work, the researchers demonstrated that connecting a quantum device to an external system can be advantageous under certain conditions. When a quantum device possesses so-called non-Hermitian topology, it leads to protected quantum excitations whose resilience stems from the fact that they are open to the environment. These types of open quantum systems have the potential to give rise to innovative new tactics for quantum technologies that use external coupling to prevent information decoherence and leaks. This article continues to discuss the researchers' work toward turning interactions that typically ruin quantum information into a way of protecting it.