Imagine designing a solar cell that maximises the capture of  the sun's rays, or a battery that minimises energy waste. Or new drugs to tackle hard-to-treat diseases, or materials that can absorb carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change.

The world of quantum science promises to the unlock the huge problem-solving potential now constrained by a lack of "classical" computing power. That's why major firms and governments are spending billions of dollars to nudge science fiction closer to reality.

On Tuesday, Microsoft will unveil a "deep partnership" with the University of Sydney, teaming research with the tech giant's other partners at Purdue University in the US, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and Denmark's University of Copenhagen.

"We're investing big to get a scalable quantum computer," David Pritchard, chief of staff for Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, told Fairfax Media.

"In the long run … we'll have significant results coming out of our program over the next few years," including "major achievements" before the end of 2017, he said, declining to elaborate.

Microsoft is coy, too, about the cost of the "multi-year" deal. David Reilly, the physicist who heads the university's Quantum Nanoscience Laboratory and will serve as Scientific Director of Microsoft's new Station Q Sydney, said the $150 million invested by the Rudd government and the university in its nanoscience hub "is justified now by the millions of dollars" coming its way.

"It's a huge injection of resources," Professor Reilly said. "It's about training a workforce of people that currently doesn't exist."

The Sydney team "is unique in the world", said Douglas Carmean, the designer of Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor and now a member of Microsoft's Quantum Architectures and Computation (QuArC) group. "They developed something that allows you to take the underlying science and scale it up, to the point where you can solve real life problems."

'Spooky'

Much of quantum science remains the preserve of theorists. A commentary in Nature journal last week quoted one physicist as predicting computers based on the approach Microsoft is pursuing are "at least four decades away". 

Quantum physics operates on the nanoscale – measured in the billionths of a metre – where energy exists in discrete packets called quanta. At that scale, matter behaves in ways Albert Einstein described as "spooky" and that Microsoft – and many others – are racing to understand and control.

Unlike the discrete zeros and ones now used in computing, quantum computing's bits – dubbed qubits – can be either a one, a zero or both at the same time. This property, called superposition, could lead to a literally exponential increase in computing speeds.

The other – even less intuitive – property is that quantum objects operate in a type of pairing called entanglement. Switching one instantly switches the other no matter the distance, a feature that could make communications hack-proof.

"The game for us … is controlling and writing information on a single electron, a single atom," Professor Reilly said, adding it would be a "disaster" if the scale of quantum computing remained at just a handful of demonstration qubits in a decade or so.

'Quietest place'

Sydney's allure for Microsoft includes leading researchers such as the Harvard-trained Professor Reilly and his team of about 20, but also his centre's sophisticated building that he calls "an instrument" and "one of the quietest places on earth".

Built on half a metre of concrete slabs, the structure is designed to minimise disturbances such as vibration, electromagnetic interference, and temperature change.

Its clean room has contamination controls akin to a semi-conductor plant, while its dilution refrigerators allow researchers to test theories at temperatures just 5 millikelvin above absolute zero - or one-600th of that space. (Zero kelvin is equivalent to minus-273 celsius.)

"We can freeze-frame those fundamental particles to understand what's really going on," Professor Reilly said.

The Berejiklian government, also keen to bolster NSW's standing in the emerging field, announced a $26 million quantum computing fund on Monday.

"It's impossible to over-state the potential benefits of this technological innovation in terms of economic growth and job creation," John Barilaro, Deputy Premier and Minister for Skills and Small Business, said.

Professor Reilly, who has also been a Microsoft employee since December, said the university would be open to other research firms such as IBM or Google.

"It would be a relationship that Microsoft would obviously broker … we'd bring [in other entities] in a capacity that made sense to everybody," he said. 

Nor are intellectual property spoils about to be carved up.

"It's not about building a patent portfolio … Microsoft wants to see the field advance," Professor Reilly said. "It's too early to say 'grab our IP and run'."