Many of today's quantum devices rely on collections of qubits, also called spins. These quantum bits have only two energy levels, the '0' and the '1'. However, spins in real devices also interact with light and vibrations known as bosons, greatly complicating calculations. Researchers now demonstrate a way to describe spin-boson systems and use this to efficiently configure quantum devices in a desired state.
Regardless of their physical realisation, quantum devices are typically described in simplified terms as a collection of interacting two-level quantum bits or spins. However, these spins also interact with other things in their surroundings, such as light in superconducting circuits or oscillations in the lattice of atoms or ions. Particles of light and vibrational modes of a lattice are examples of bosons.
Bond continues:"There are so many possible patterns that classical computers often struggle to compute and process them. Instead, in this publication we use a method that identifies the most important of these patterns and ignores the others. This lets us study these quantum systems, and design new ways of preparing interesting quantum states."