by One of the challenges to realizing the full potential of quantum computing is figuring out how millions of qubits – those quantum equivalents of the classical bits that store ones or zeros in conventional computers – can work together.
Scientists at the University of Sussex in the UK have now succeeded in making qubits travel directly between two quantum computer microchips and at speeds and accuracies well beyond anything seen before with this technology.
That proves it quantum computer can be scaled beyond the physical limits of a microchip, a crucial factor when you’re potentially working with millions of qubits in the same machine. Universal Quantum, a startup spun out of the University of Sussex, will continue to develop the technology.
“The team has demonstrated fast and coherent ion transfer using quantum matter interconnects,” says quantum scientist Mariam Akhtar. Akhtar led research on the prototype while she was at the University of Sussex.
“This experiment validates the unique architecture that Universal Quantum has developed – and offers an exciting path to truly large scale quantum computing.”
The researchers used a special technique they call UQConnect to make the transfers, using an electric field to transport qubits. This means microchips can be snapped together like pieces of a puzzle to build them quantum computer.
While it is notoriously difficult to keep and move qubits, the team achieved a 99.999993 percent success rate and a connection rate of 2,424 links per second. There is scope for hundreds or even thousands of quantum computing Microchips connected in this way with minimal loss of data or fidelity.
There’s more than one way to build a quantum microchip: in this case, the architecture used trapped atomic ions as qubits for the best stability and reliability, and charge-coupled circuitry for superior electrical charge transfer.
“As quantum computer As we grow, we are eventually constrained by the size of the microchip, which limits the number of quantum bits such a chip can hold,” says quantum scientist Winfried Hensinger of the University of Sussex.
“So we knew that a modular approach was key to development quantum computer powerful enough to solve game-changing industry problems.”
The purposes that quantum computer could eventually include the development of new materials, research into drug treatments, cybersecurity improvements, and climate change modeling.
While quantum computer Existing today, they are limited in scope compared to what they might one day become – they are more research projects than machines that can be practically used and programmed.
Breakthroughs like the one we’ve reported on here push us to fully realize the potential of quantum computingand developing ways to use millions of qubits is an integral part of that.
“These exciting results demonstrate the remarkable potential of Universal Quantum quantum computer becoming powerful enough to unlock the many life-changing uses of quantum computing‘ says quantum researcher Sebastian Weidt from the University of Sussex.
The research was published in nature communication.
