Researchers involving Queen Mary University of London have developed a way to use a quantum computer for a wider kind of spectroscopy, a technique scientists use to learn how matter responds to energy or light.
The method can study quantum systems that are not only still and isolated, but also systems affected by their surroundings or changing over time. The team reconstructed a measure of quantum behavior using an ancilla-assisted Hadamard test.
On a programmable silicon-photonic chip, the researchers explored unusual effects including parity-time symmetry breaking and topological holonomy. These are difficult to examine with many conventional approaches.
The work is a research tool rather than a finished product. It could help scientists investigate possible materials and molecules before they are made, with longer-term uses in fields such as chemistry, drug design, and materials research.
