Quantum chip just 0.3 inches long stores memory through tiny mechanical vibrations The device uses superconducting qubits to process data, while mechanical resonators serve as quantum working memory. Read Next: US firm launches modular sodium-ion battery to power data centers and utilitiesSwiss researchers have developed a new type of quantum computer chip that stores data using tiny mechanical vibrations rather than conventional electromagnetic memory. The revolutionary device was created by researchers at ETH Zurich. It reportedly swaps traditional quantum memory for microscopic mechanical resonators. These are microscopic structures that vibrate in different ways to hold information. The approach also introduces a computer architecture inspired by today’s digital computers that separates processing and memory. “Our quantum chip contains tiny components that start to vibrate when storing information,” Yiwen Chu, PhD, a professor of hybrid quantum systems at ETH Zurich, said. The team believes that the concept could overcome one of quantum computing’s greatest challenges: building compact and reliable systems that could store large amounts of quantum data. To reach millions of qubits, quantum computers must overcome size, heat, and other complex electronic bottlenecks. Inside the chip In ETH Zurich’s model, processing and memory and separated. A superconducting qubit acts as the processor. This is similar to the central processing unit (CPU) in a conventional computer. Meanwhile, quantum information is temporarily stored inside mechanical resonators that serve as a form of quantum working memory. More from Science See AllRather than storing information electromagnetically, the resonators encode data through tiny vibrations. During a computation, the qubit retrieves information stored in a vibration, performs calculations, and writes the updated information back into the vibrating memory. According to Chu and her team, the idea resembles the strings of a guitar. These can vibrate at different frequencies to produce different notes. Meanwhile, in the quantum chip,