Quantum computer reveals chemical reaction in 100-billionth-speed slow-mo

Amazing stuff!

"... The team managed to slow down a molecular interaction by 100 billion times to see what’s really going on in a common chemical reaction. ...
Chemical bonds, for instance, can form and break on a scale of femtoseconds – quadrillionths of a second. ...

For the new study, researchers at the University of Sydney used a quantum computer to slow down one of these super-fast processes. They witnessed what happens to a single atom when it encounters a geometric structure called a conical intersection, which are common in chemical reactions like photosynthesis. ...

“Our experiment wasn’t a digital approximation of the process – this was a direct analogue observation of the quantum dynamics unfolding at a speed we could observe,” ..."

"... When molecules undergo photochemical reactions, they transition between various electronic states. Conical intersections act as crossroads during these transitions, allowing molecules to switch between different states with remarkable speed. ..."

From the abstract:

"Conical intersections are ubiquitous in chemistry and physics, often governing processes such as light harvesting, vision, photocatalysis and chemical reactivity. They act as funnels between electronic states of molecules, allowing rapid and efficient relaxation during chemical dynamics. In addition, when a reaction path encircles a conical intersection, the molecular wavefunction experiences a geometric phase, which can affect the outcome of the reaction through quantum-mechanical interference. Past experiments have measured indirect signatures of geometric phases in scattering patterns and spectroscopic observables, but there has been no direct observation of the underlying wavepacket interference. Here we experimentally observe geometric-phase interference in the dynamics of a wavepacket travelling around an engineered conical intersection in a programmable trapped-ion quantum simulator. To achieve this, we develop a technique to reconstruct the two-dimensional wavepacket densities of a trapped ion. Experiments agree with the theoretical model, demonstrating the ability of analogue quantum simulators—such as those realized using trapped ions—to accurately describe nuclear quantum effects."

Quantum computer reveals chemical reaction in 100-billionth-speed slow-mo

Quantum computer slows down virtual chemistry reaction 100 billion times A novel quantum method allowed researchers to witness engineered conical intersections directly for the first time.

Direct observation of geometric-phase interference in dynamics around a conical intersection (no public access)

An ion trap at the University of Sydney's Quantum Control Laboratory. Ion traps are used to confine individual atoms for experiments in quantum control and quantum computing.