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Towards quantum chemistry on a quantum computer

Nature Chemistry volume 2, pages 106–111 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Exact first-principles calculations of molecular properties are currently intractable because their computational cost grows exponentially with both the number of atoms and basis set size. A solution is to move to a radically different model of computing by building a quantum computer, which is a device that uses quantum systems themselves to store and process data. Here we report the application of the latest photonic quantum computer technology to calculate properties of the smallest molecular system: the hydrogen molecule in a minimal basis. We calculate the complete energy spectrum to 20 bits of precision and discuss how the technique can be expanded to solve large-scale chemical problems that lie beyond the reach of modern supercomputers. These results represent an early practical step toward a powerful tool with a broad range of quantum-chemical applications.

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Figure 1: The quantum algorithm for calculating energies of many-body quantum systems and our experimental implementation with linear optics.
Figure 2: Experimental quantum algorithm results.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Perdomo, A. Steinberg, P. J. Love, A. D. Dutoi, G. Vidal and A. Fedrizzi for discussions. We acknowledge financial support from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellow and Centre of Excellence programs, and the IARPA-funded US Army Research Office Contracts W911NF-0397 and W911NF-07-0304. B.J.P. was the recipient of an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship (DP0878523) and I.K. a recipient of the Joyce and Zlatko Baloković Scholarship. A.A.G. thanks the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for support.

Author information

Author notes

  1. J. D. Biamonte, M. Mohseni & M. Barbieri

    Present address: Present address: Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d'Optique, 91127 Palaiseau, France (M.B.); Oxford University Computing Laboratory, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QD, UK (J.D.B.); Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA (M.M.),

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics,

    B. P. Lanyon, G. G. Gillett, M. E. Goggin, M. P. Almeida, B. J. Powell, M. Barbieri & A. G. White

  2. Centre for Quantum Computer Technology,

    B. P. Lanyon, G. G. Gillett, M. P. Almeida, M. Barbieri & A. G. White

  3. Centre for Organic Photonics & Electronics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    B. J. Powell

  4. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    J. D. Whitfield, I. Kassal, J. D. Biamonte, M. Mohseni & A. Aspuru-Guzik

  5. Department of Physics, Truman State University, Kirksville, 63501, Missouri, USA

    M. E. Goggin

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Contributions

B.P.L., J.D.W., I.K., M.M., A.A.G. and A.G.W. conceived and designed the experiments, B.P.L., G.G.G., M.E.G. and M.P.A. performed the experiments, B.P.L. and G.G.G. analysed the data, J.D.W. performed the classical preprocessing. All authors discussed the results and co-wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to B. P. Lanyon or A. Aspuru-Guzik.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Lanyon, B., Whitfield, J., Gillett, G. et al. Towards quantum chemistry on a quantum computer. Nature Chem 2, 106–111 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.483

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