Simon Lieu

Proposal Shows How Noisy Qubits Might Correct Themselves

One of the chief obstacles facing quantum computer designers—correcting the errors that creep into a processor’s calculations—could be overcome with a new approach by physicists from and the California Institute of Technology, who may have found a way to design quantum memory switches that would self-correct. The team’s theory paper, which was published Dec. 8, 2020 in the journal Physical Review Letters, suggests an easier path to creating stable quantum bits, or qubits, which ordinarily are subject to environmental disturbances and errors. Finding methods of correcting these errors is a major issue in quantum computer development, but the research team’s approach to qubit design could sidestep the problem.