Quantum Computation and Chemistry
When quantum computation began to be explored, Richard Feynman proposed the use of quantum computers for the emulation of other quantum systems. He suggested using a controllable quantum system to obtain information about other quantum systems. This idea is very powerful because a quantum computer only requires a polynomial number of operations to emulate a quantum system. In our group, we are interested in the use of quantum computers in the field of chemistry, and we carry out research to extend current algorithms and develop new algorithms for the simulation of quantum systems. Although quantum computers powerful enough to carry out these calculations are not yet available, we believe that exploring these algorithms gives us insight into the potential power of these devices and into possible ways to find more efficient classical algorithms.
We recently developed a quantum algorithm for studying chemical reaction dynamics on a quantum computer. We characterized the quantum algorithms required for preparing the initial state, carry out the propagation of the chemical system and measure observables of interest, such as quantum mechanical rates.
We are working towards the development of even more efficient quantum algorithms for the simulation of chemical systems on quantum devices, and working actively with other groups to achieve their experimental realization.
