Using a trapped-ion quantum computer, the research team witnessed the interference pattern of a single atom caused by a 'conical intersection'. Conical intersections are known throughout chemistry and are vital to rapid photo-chemical processes such as light harvesting in human vision or photosynthesis.
Scientists at the University of Sydney have, for the first time, used a quantum computer to engineer and directly observe a process critical in chemical reactions by slowing it down by a factor of 100 billion times.
Specifically, the research team witnessed the interference pattern of a single atom caused by a common geometric structure in chemistry called a 'conical intersection'. To get around this problem, quantum researchers in the School of Physics and the School of Chemistry created an experiment using a trapped-ion quantum computer in a completely new way. This allowed them to design and map this very complicated problem onto a relatively small quantum device - and then slow the process down by a factor of 100 billion."In nature, the whole process is over within femtoseconds," said Ms Olaya Agudelo from the School of Chemistry.
This study slowed down the dynamics in the quantum computer and revealed the tell-tale hallmarks predicted -- but never before seen -- associated with conical intersections in photochemistry.
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