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Physics professor Leo Kouwenhoven has left Microsoft. The American technology company confirms that NRC after a a message in by Volkskrant† Since 2016, Kouwenhoven has been working on a quantum computer for Microsoft. Beginning of last year a research group led by Kouwenhoven withdrew a scientific publication due to data processing issues. According to Kouwenhoven himself, his departure from Microsoft had nothing to do with it.
Quantum computers potentially have enormous computing power. Tech companies Google and IBM already have a working quantum computer. It is still in development at Microsoft.
American society was enthusiastic about Kouwenhoven’s quantum computing research. The Delft professor tried to confirm the existence of majorana particles in the nanowires. These particles could be used as qubits (bits that a quantum computer uses for calculations). According to theorists, majorana particles exist, but there is no experimental evidence for this yet.
Quantum Lab
In 2016, Kouwenhoven became director of a new lab on the TU Delft campus, where Microsoft’s quantum computer is being developed. Kouwenhoven left Microsoft this month. „This is related to a change in approach to scalability quantum computing“, a Microsoft spokesperson emailed. “We wish Leo every success in the future and thank him for his time at Microsoft.”
Kouwenhoven’s research has been under discussion since last year. In 2012 he published the first tentative proof of the existence of the majorana particle. In 2018 he wrote in a new study in the magazine Nature that, through improved research materials, he had now certainly found it. It was world news. But last February, the 2018 post was taken down. The reason for this was that the researchers at the time did not state that only part of the data confirmed the discovery of majoranas. There are now also doubts about other studies of his department. Last February, an integrity committee of the TU Delft launched a second survey how the researchers processed the data.
Are these problems surrounding the investigation the reason for Kouwenhoven’s departure from Microsoft? Kouwenhoven himself says no: “Microsoft will focus less on fundamental research and more on the industrial side. I focused on the fundamentals. The departure was done in good consultation. Microsoft’s spokesperson said nothing about the reason for the departure.
The Copenhagen team
Another Microsoft team in Copenhagen asserted beginning of this week have taken a step forward in their search for the marjoram particle. This team uses a different approach than the Kouwenhoven team. “Microsoft may be setting a new course with other researchers at the helm,” Carlo Beenakker says over the phone. He is a physicist at the University of Leiden. “It has nothing to do with the hype around Kouwenhoven’s post.”
In recent years Kouwenhoven has been a professor of physics at TU Delft without appointment. That is to say, he was not paid by the university. This situation has not changed, informed QuTech NRC† QuTech is the quantum institute of TU Delft and TNO. Kouwenhoven supervises twelve PhD students at QuTech. He continues this.
Addition 19:10: This message has been completed with a reaction from Leo Kouwenhoven
