(Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Oak Ridge, TN) -- Using the full capabilities of the Quantinuum H1-1 quantum computer, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory not only demonstrated best practices for scientific computing on current quantum systems but also produced an intriguing scientific result.

By modeling singlet fission—in which absorption of a single photon of light by a molecule produces two excited states—the team confirmed that the linear H4 molecule’s energetic levels match the fission process’ requirements. The linear H4 molecule is, simply, a molecule made of four hydrogen atoms arranged in a linear fashion. A molecule’s energetic levels are the energies of each quantum state involved in a phenomenon, such as singlet fission, and how they relate and compare with one another. The fact that the linear molecule’s energetic levels are conducive to singlet fission could prove to be useful knowledge in the effort to develop more efficient solar panels.

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