Crystal holds the key to quantum computing say researchers

Australian academics say they have solved a major hurdle in quantum computing, using a new technique to control millions of qubits in a silicon quantum computer chip.

For years, quantum computer design has been held back by the control of qubits – the basic units of information in a silicon quantum processor. Now, quantum engineers from UNSW Sydney say they have a technique that can control millions of spin qubits by adding a crystal prism to the chip.  

Andrew Dzurak, a UNSW Scientia Professor, said the team was overjoyed with the discovery, pointing out that the inability to control millions of qubits “was a major roadblock to building a full-scale quantum computer”.

The research, published in Science Advances, showed the approach removed problems associated with other methods that took up too much space in the chip and generated too much heat.

Dr Jarryd Pla, a faculty member in UNSW’s School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, said: “There are two key innovations here. The first is that we don’t have to put in a lot of power to get a strong driving field for the qubits, which crucially means we don’t generate much heat. The second is that the field is very uniform across the chip, so that millions of qubits all experience the same level of control.”

“In principle, we could deliver control fields to up to four million qubits,” Dr Pla added.

Top photo shows Dr Jarryd Pla and Professor Andrew Dzurak. Photo: UNSW

[Via UNSW]

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