An artist’s representation of qubits in the Quantum Twins simulator Silicon Quantum Computing An unprecedently large quantum simulator could shed light on how exotic, potentially useful quantum materials work and help us optimise them in the future. Quantum computers may eventually harness quantum phenomena to complete calculations that are intractable for the world’s best conventional computers. Similarly, a simulator harnessing quantum phenomena could help researchers to accurately model poorly understood materials or molecules. This is especially true for materials such as superconductors, which conduct electricity with nearly perfect efficiency, because they derive this property from quantum effects that could be directly implemented on quantum simulators but would require more steps of mathematical translation on conventional devices. Michelle Simmons at Silicon Quantum Computing in Australia and her colleagues have now created the biggest quantum simulator for quantum materials yet, called Quantum Twins. “The scale and controllability we have achieved with these simulators means we are now poised to tackle some very interesting problems,” she says. “We are designing new materials in previously unthought-of ways by literally building …