Oak Ridge National Laboratory

IBM quantum computer helped calculate how tritium binds to molten salt in fusion reactors

IBM quantum computer helped calculate how tritium binds to molten salt in fusion reactors

Researchers combined a Heron quantum processor with supercomputers to calculate the electronic structure of FLiBe clusters, a material being considered for tritium production in fusion reactors. The results show that the quantum calculation of parts of the problem was

IBM quantum computer accurately simulates magnetic material — and verified against real physics experiment

For the first time, IBM researchers and their partners from leading universities have succeeded in performing a quantum simulation of a magnetic material whose accuracy has been tested against the material's behavior in nature, an important step towards making quantum computing a practical tool in materials science.