Station Q is a Microsoft Research lab located on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Topological quantum computing is the main research area over there. They are exploring theoretical and experimental approaches to creating the reliable quantum analog of the traditional bit—the qubit. If you don’t know anything about Quantum Computing, watch the short animated video above_from the Microsoft Stories team. Station Q’s strategy, to build a quantum computer based on “topological degrees of freedom,” is theoretically harder to get off the ground initially, but if and when they get it working, it will be very scalable. “Our pursuit is not strictly academic in nature. We dream a dream this will one day inform our product strategy, and be of utilitarian and economic importance,” Mundie said. “Because of that we care about getting on a path that would give us the quickest ability to do something that is economically important as opposed to just academically important.” The economic implications could be staggering. The ability to harness quantum...

The rest of the story...
Microsoft News