Science News Today
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Astronomy
  • Health and Medicine
  • Psychology
  • Earth Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Technology
Science News Today
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Astronomy
  • Health and Medicine
  • Psychology
  • Earth Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Technology
No Result
View All Result
Science News Today
No Result
View All Result
Home Physics

Scientists Build Quantum Memory System That Listens to Sound Waves

by Muhammad Tuhin
June 13, 2025
Top: Schematic of the bucket-brigade QRAM architecture and phonon routing operation at a single node, controlled by a transmon qubit. Bottom: Schematic design of the phonon router device. Credit: Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.210601

Top: Schematic of the bucket-brigade QRAM architecture and phonon routing operation at a single node, controlled by a transmon qubit. Bottom: Schematic design of the phonon router device. Credit: Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.210601

0
SHARES

In the mysterious realm of quantum mechanics, where particles can exist in multiple states at once and dance between realities, researchers are now turning sound into a tool for memory—literally.

You might also like

Physicists Discover a Hidden Law of Entanglement That Mirrors Thermodynamics

The Tiny Quantum Machine That Could Hear the Universe and Heal the Body

Quantum Computers Just Simulated the Moment Order Was Born from Chaos

In a study that could transform how quantum computers process and store information, scientists at the University of Chicago have developed a new type of quantum memory system, known as quantum random access memory (QRAM), using phonons—quantum particles of sound—and robust quantum bits called transmons.

Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, represent a bold step forward in building scalable, efficient, and compact quantum devices capable of outperforming even the most powerful classical computers on specific tasks.

Superposition and the Promise of QRAM

At the core of quantum computing lies a principle that defies everyday intuition: superposition. Unlike classical bits, which can only exist as either 0 or 1, quantum bits (or qubits) can exist as both at the same time. This opens the door to astonishing computational power, allowing quantum computers to evaluate numerous outcomes simultaneously.

But as quantum processors scale, they face a massive challenge: how to efficiently store and access vast amounts of information. That’s where QRAM comes in.

Quantum random access memory doesn’t just store data. It accesses multiple pieces of information simultaneously, thanks to the bizarre laws of quantum mechanics. It promises to supercharge quantum computing for tasks like machine learning, complex simulations, and solving optimization problems once considered unsolvable.

However, building a QRAM system that is both compact and resilient to error has remained one of the thorniest challenges in the field—until now.

The Sound of Innovation: Phonon Routers Meet Transmon Qubits

Enter the team at the University of Chicago, led by researchers Zhaoyou Wang and Hong Qiao. Their vision: to harness the subtle vibrations traveling across solid surfaces—called surface acoustic wave phonons—as information carriers in quantum circuits.

By designing a novel component called a “transmon-controlled phonon router,” the researchers have effectively built a switchboard for single sound particles, directing them through a network of memory units based on the quantum state of a superconducting transmon qubit.

“Imagine a tiny railway network, where quantum bits tell phonons where to go,” said Wang. “Our architecture allows us to guide these sound particles with high precision, while avoiding the common problems of interference and hardware complexity.”

Inspired by the phonon Mach-Zehnder interferometer—a quantum device that splits and then recombines waves to detect tiny phase shifts—the team integrated a transmon-controlled gate into the interferometer. This enabled them to route phonons based on the quantum instructions encoded in transmon qubits, achieving a foundational step for scalable QRAM.

A Tree-Like Path Toward the Future

One of the key innovations of the study lies in the architecture itself. Traditional QRAM concepts often require a sprawling web of connections that are difficult to scale and highly susceptible to noise. But Wang and Qiao’s team introduced a tree-like structure, where each branch contains a router that splits decisions, reducing both the hardware needed and the risks of frequency crowding.

This layout allows for faster and more efficient memory access, with fewer qubits and physical connections than previous designs. In quantum computing—where every added component is a potential source of noise and error—this efficiency could prove critical.

“Our approach avoids bottlenecks in signal processing and simplifies the entire memory architecture,” Qiao explained. “It’s not just about performance; it’s about making quantum devices that are feasible to build and maintain.”

Dual-Rail Encoding: Catching Errors in Real Time

Quantum devices are notoriously fragile. A passing electromagnetic fluctuation or a stray vibration can collapse a qubit’s delicate quantum state, leading to errors that ripple through the system. To address this, the researchers implemented a strategy called hybrid dual-rail encoding.

By splitting a quantum state across two separate pathways, this method allows the system to detect when information is lost due to dominant noise, without needing additional qubits or external circuitry. In essence, it catches errors as they occur—without complicating the hardware.

“Phonon-based routers offer unique advantages in QRAM design,” said Wang. “They’re compact, fast, and thanks to hybrid encoding, surprisingly error-aware.”

Building the Foundations for Tomorrow’s Quantum Machines

This study is not just a theoretical model. The researchers are already planning real-world demonstrations, with experiments designed to test the transmon-controlled phonon router and its ability to withstand practical challenges, including dephasing noise—a form of error that causes qubits to lose coherence.

As part of future work, the team will also explore more advanced quantum error correction techniques, seeking to make their architecture not just functional, but fault-tolerant—a crucial milestone for the future of quantum computing.

The promise is immense. QRAM could be the missing puzzle piece in quantum algorithms that need to quickly access vast data sets. In applications ranging from pharmaceutical development to cryptographic analysis and climate modeling, fast and reliable quantum memory could be the difference between theoretical possibility and real-world power.

From Sound to Supercomputers: A New Quantum Language

In the classical world, sound doesn’t typically make for a memory system. But in the quantum world, where particles can exist as waves and information lives in the folds of probability, even a whisper can carry incredible weight.

By taming sound and pairing it with the control of superconducting qubits, this new QRAM design offers a fresh path forward—a compact, efficient architecture built not on brute force but on elegance, precision, and a deep understanding of the physics at play.

As Wang and Qiao put it, this is not just about building a memory system—it’s about listening to the universe in a new way, and learning how to make it speak back through the language of quantum mechanics.

Quantum memory may have just found its voice. And it sounds like progress.

Reference: Zhaoyou Wang et al, Quantum Random Access Memory with Transmon-Controlled Phonon Routing, Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.210601. On arXiv: DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2411.00719

TweetShareSharePinShare

Recommended For You

Illustration of an entanglement battery. The battery allows reversible interconversion between any two entangled states. Credit: American Physical Society
Physics

Physicists Discover a Hidden Law of Entanglement That Mirrors Thermodynamics

July 5, 2025
A table top experiment typical of the setup. The size is more or less equal to the size of an ordinary dining table. Credit: Ola Jakup Joensen
Physics

The Tiny Quantum Machine That Could Hear the Universe and Heal the Body

July 4, 2025
Digitization and adiabatic energy gap. a The procedure to digitize an adiabatic evolution is done through a Riemann-like discretization of the time interval s ∈ [0, 1], where each step in time corresponds to the digital block. The time-continuous adiabatic algorithm implemented through time-dependent fields can be efficiently decomposed in a sequence of pulses through a circuit version of the evolution. After M blocks the output state is expected to be prepared with good fidelity without any computation complexity due to the search for the optimal parameters of the circuit. b The only optimization required to reduce the circuit length is done through the suitable choice of the parameters of the Hamiltonian. The a priori knowledge of the parameters of the Hamiltonian, which leads to a large energy gap, will enhance the digitized algorithm. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57812-8
Physics

Quantum Computers Just Simulated the Moment Order Was Born from Chaos

July 3, 2025
Design concept and bandstructure renormalization via entropy engineering. Credit: Advanced Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202503319
Physics

Scientists Solve 40-Year Quantum Mystery with Energy-Loss-Free Breakthrough

July 1, 2025
Alberto De la Torre used controlled heating and cooling to make a quantum material switch between a conductive state and an insulating state. Credit: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Physics

Scientists Discover Quantum Material That Could Replace Silicon Forever

July 1, 2025
Electronic configuration of seaborgium (Sg). Credit: Ahazard.sciencewriter/Wikimedia Commons. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:106_seaborgium_(Sg)_enhanced_Bohr_model.png.
Physics

Scientists Discover Fleeting Atom That Defies Nuclear Expectations

July 1, 2025
Artistic representation of the magnetic sawtooth structure of atacamite: The magnetic moments (green) of the Cu ions (white and blue) cannot be completely aligned antiparallel to each other due to the triangular arrangement. Credit: Schröder/HZDR
Physics

Ancient Crystal Reveals a Powerful New Way to Cool Without Electricity

June 29, 2025
The critical current oscillations are sinusoidal when twisted trilayer graphene is a normal metal (an S-N-S junction). But the oscillations become sawtooth like when twisted trilayer becomes an intrinsic superconductor (an S-S'-S junction). Credit: Jha et al
Physics

Scientists Unlock the Secrets of Superconductivity in Magic-Angle Graphene

June 29, 2025
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed a highly efficient amplifier that activates only when reading information from qubits. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Yin Zeng | Maurizio Toselli
Physics

Scientists Build Whispering Amplifier That Could Supercharge Quantum Computers

June 26, 2025
Next Post

What Causes Volcanic Eruptions? An In-Depth Guide

Understanding Climate Change: Key Facts You Should Know

The Silent Pulse of the Planet: The Role of Oceans in Earth’s Climate System

Legal

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimer
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

© 2025 Science News Today. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Astronomy
  • Health and Medicine
  • Psychology
  • Earth Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Technology

© 2025 Science News Today. All rights reserved.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.