Quantum computing for robust molecular identification by quantum tunneling

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21H01742
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 28010:Nanometer-scale chemistry-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Tada Tomofumi 九州大学, エネルギー研究教育機構, 教授 (40376512)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 谷口 正輝 大阪大学, 産業科学研究所, 教授 (40362628)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 量子コンピュータ / トンネル伝導 / 単分子 / 分子軌道 / 逆問題

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This is a fundamental research for single molecule identification proposed by Tada (Principal Investigator) and Taniguchi (Co-Principal Investigator), in which Tada was in charge of quantum circuit design, quantum computing, and compilation of results, and Taniguchi was in charge of molecular conduction measurements. The quantum circuit was designed based on the molecular orbital rule for tunneling conduction, and the quantum phenomenon of tunneling conduction was successfully reproduced on the quantum circuit. Since the information flowing in a quantum circuit corresponds to unitary transformation of qunatum states, we constructed a method that makes it possible to perform the inverse problem of identifying molecules from conduction patterns by quantum computation, by constructing the quantum circuit for tunnling process in the reverse direction.

Free Research Field

量子化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

新型ウイルスの脅威と闘い続ける宿命をせおった我々によって、単分子レベルで分子識別する技術の構築は大きな希望となる。本研究は、単分子上を流れるトンネル伝導パターンからその分子を特定するという逆問題を量子計算で実行可能となる手法を構築したものである。量子コンピュータ開発はまだ完成の域には達っしていないが、量子コンピュータを利用することの有効性を示すアプリケーションの一つとしても本研究成果には大きい意義がある。