Chapter 476

Gu Lu gave An Yu full responsibility for determining the candidate for the assistant.

After this matter was finalized, Gu Lu chatted with An Yu about the next matter.

That is to determine what to study.

Gu Lu and An Yu were assigned the task of conducting research on semiconductor quantum chip materials.

However, this is a fairly broad research topic.

Gu Lu and An Yu had to determine a specific material for semiconductor chips.

At present, after the continuous development of technology in the field, there are quite a lot of materials that can be applied to semiconductor quantum chips.

But if there is one type of best fit, there is only one.

"Graphene!"

Gu Lu and An Yu had this answer in their minds at the same time.

As a new type of semiconductor material, graphene, like wide bandgap semiconductors, is not widely used in the market due to its current technology.

However, after structural analysis and performance testing, graphene was identified as one of the most suitable materials for the production of semiconductor quantum chips.

The one-qubit semiconductor chip and two-qubit semiconductor chip developed by Academician Guo's team are all based on graphene semiconductor materials.

If nothing else, the material of the three-qubit semiconductor chip that will be developed soon will also be graphene.

In this case, graphene will inevitably be the object of Gu Lu and An Yu's research.

But......

Although graphene is suitable for the research and development of semiconductor quantum chips, it is not without shortcomings.

Otherwise, the project team of Gu Lu and An Yu would not have to be set up directly.

Graphene has obvious advantages, but the disadvantages are equally obvious.

There are two main disadvantages of using graphene as a material for semiconductor quantum chips.

The first is that there is a phenomenon called spin-orbit coupling and net nuclear spin inside graphene materials.

This phenomenon will greatly affect the number of qubits that can exist inside the graphene material.

According to the precise test of Academician Guo's team, it is calculated that due to the influence of the spin-orbit coupling inside graphene and the net nuclear spin, the limit number of qubits that can exist is ten.

This figure is clearly not up to the requirements of a quantum computer.

Therefore, eliminating the influence of spin-orbit coupling and net nuclear spin in graphene is one of the goals of Gu Lu and An Yu in the next stage.

Although this problem cannot be reflected at present, because the project team has not even developed a three-qubit semiconductor chip.

But......

This issue cannot be delayed for too long.

We can't wait for Academician Guo to increase the number of qubits of the chip to 10 bits before we can start tackling this technical problem.

Because that would waste a lot of time.

The second disadvantage lies in the relativistic properties of the carriers of graphene, a monolayer of carbon atomic materials, and the zero-gap band structure.

The relativistic properties of carriers and the existence of zero-gap band structures pose a high challenge to the construction of graphene-based qubits.

To put it simply, it is because of the existence of the above problems that the structure of qubits is extremely complex.

Because if the qubit structure is not complicated, the carrier relativistic characteristics and the existence of the zero-gap band structure will greatly reduce the fidelity of the quantum chip during operation.

The more complex the qubit construction, the more time and effort it takes to design the deduction.

The front is fine.

When the number of qubits rises to twenty or thirty, the design of the qubit structure will definitely become a headache for the entire project team.

But......

If Gu Lu and An Yu's project team can solve this problem, then in the later stage, they can directly design a simple construction of qubits without a large number of too complex deductions.

This saves a lot of manpower and time.

For this semiconductor quantum chip R&D project, which is already tight on time, this is precious.

The above are the two major technical problems currently existing in the use of graphene as a semiconductor material.

One will limit the number of qubits, and the other will increase the complexity of the qubit construction.

Overall, both of these puzzles are quite tricky.

Academician Guo's team has not been unsuccessful in these two problems, but the results achieved are not so optimistic.

Now, this baton has been passed to Gu Lu and An Yu.

Gu Lu and An Yu had to use the shortest possible time to solve these two problems.

The difficulty is not ordinary.

But it is still obligatory to do it.

This is the code of conduct as a researcher.

Gu Lu and An Yu were eating lunch and chatting about the specifics of the project.

In the end, after discussion, Gu Lu and An Yu agreed that the first phase of the research would focus on the first problem.

That is, by eliminating the influence of the spin-orbit coupling inside graphene and the net nuclear spin, the number of qubits that graphene can accommodate is increased.

The reason is simple.

The number of qubits is at the heart of a quantum computer.

Once the number of qubits is not reached, it does not make sense to meet all the other conditions.

Increasing the number of qubits that graphene materials can hold to more than 30 is the key.

In comparison, the second problem is much less important.

Although the structure of qubits is much more complicated, the design of qubit construction can be hard stacked by time and number of people.

No matter how complex the structure of qubits is, if hundreds of people study them at the same time, it is a matter of a few weeks.

If time really doesn't allow it, the second problem can be bulldozed through crowd tactics.

And the first conundrum......

If the core problem is not solved, it will not matter how many people come!

In addition to determining the specific research sequence of the project, Gu Lu and An Yu determined other matters, including the number of funds requested, the type and quantity of instruments purchased, the management of personnel rules and regulations, and so on.

By the end of lunch, Gu Lu and An Yu had almost finalized everything.

Most of them are based on An Yu's opinions.

After all, An Yu, as the deputy director of the Quantum Optics Laboratory in the magic capital, has many years of management experience, and in this regard, Gu Lu lacks a lot.

"Sister An, let's leave our mobile phone number for easy communication later. Gu Lu took the lead in taking out his mobile phone and said with a smile.

An Yu nodded with a smile and reported a string of numbers to Gu Lu, "You can find my WeChat by searching for this number directly." ”

Gu Lu nodded, saved An Yu's number, and then summoned the waiter to swipe the card to settle the bill.

"Originally, I wanted to say that I had a treat!" An Yu covered her mouth and chuckled.

Gu Lu smiled, got up and put on his coat, "How can I let the lady have a treat, not to mention that I am still the host." ”

At the door of the restaurant, Gu Lu waved his hand to An Yu, "Then Sister An, we'll see you in three days." ”

"Well, goodbye!" An Yu waved and smiled.