Quantum computing can reduce chemical reactions by up to 100 billion times

For the first time, a team of scientists has managed to slow down a chemical reaction, according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature Chemistry. Using a quantum computer and a super slow camera to record the experiment, they were able to perform a simulation capable of: slowing a chemical reaction by up to 100 billion times.

As the study explains, scientists focused on a reaction known as the conic intersection. Geometric structure is quite common in chemistry, where the energy between two surfaces is basically the same. For example, this process is very important in different processes in nature. absorption of light by the human eye and even by plants through photosynthesis.

Chemists and other scientists have long sought to observe geometric structures in chemical dynamics, at least since the 1950s, but the biggest problem they face is the speed of these processes. Super slow motion observation represents an important step forward in chemistry.

“By understanding these fundamental processes within and between molecules, we can open up a whole new world of possibilities in materials science, drug design, or solar energy harvesting. It can also help improve other processes that depend on molecules to interact with light. Vanessa Olaya Agudelo, principal investigator and postdoctoral student of the study.” “Like how atmospheric pollution is formed or how the ozone layer is damaged,” he explained.

100 billion times slower

To perform the experiment, the team from the University of Sydney, Australia, used a quantum computer made up of trapped ions; The computer captures the quantum particles in electric fields that are then manipulated by lasers. According to Olaya Agudelo, Reactions usually take place in femtoseconds, that is, in a billionth of a millionth of a second; therefore it is almost impossible to observe them.

The slowdown allowed the scientists to measure the reaction as the process slowed. Researchers believe that Understanding the extremely fast dynamics of these processes can answer some chemistry questions and open up new possibilities on the subject.

“So far we have not been able to directly observe the dynamics of the ‘geometric phase’; it is too fast to be studied experimentally… This problem has been solved by using quantum technologies. Our experiment was not a digital approach to the process; It was a direct analog observation of quantum dynamics occurring at a rate that we can observe,” said Dr. Christophe Valahu, lead author of the study.

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