Today’s quantum computers are far from ideal—they have only a few dozen quantum bits, and these “qubits” are noisy, prone to random errors that can’t be corrected. However, a team of researchers has now shown that such “noisy intermediate-scale quantum” (NISQ) devices can nevertheless be used to simulate a complex type of quantum behavior. They show theoretically that an NISQ device like Google’s Sycamore quantum computer can be used to simulate an object called a discrete time crystal, whose components undergo spontaneous collective oscillations [1]. In a separate paper the researchers collaborate with the Google team to put their approach into practice on Sycamore [2]. Another team has also recently reported a similar quantum simulation enacted using qubits of a different type [3].
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