Billion Qubit Chips?

Australian efforts pushing quantum scaling development.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Quantum computing breakthrough! Engineers discover technique that could create billion-qubit chips

JANUARY 12, 2023, by Chris Melore  in Studyfinds

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian engineers have stumbled across a new way to control electrons which play a key role in quantum computing. The breakthrough could open the door to making billion-qubit quantum computer chips a reality.

Here’s what you need to know about quantum computing:

Computers use “bits” — binary digits (0s and 1s) to process information, but a quantum bit (qubit) exists in both states at the same time.

Qubits allow computers to operate exponentially faster, performing countless computations simultaneously.

Qubits are made up of “quantum dots,” tiny nano-sized devices that trap one or multiple electrons.

Controlling the spin of these electrons is the key to making qubits work in an ultra-fast computer.

Researchers at the quantum computing start-up Diraq and UNSW Sydney discovered a completely new method of spin control which relies on an electrical field, instead of the typical magnetic field scientists use. The team wasn’t expecting the find this breakthrough, but its discovery could soon make it possible to build large-scale silicon quantum computers.

“This was a completely new effect we’d never seen before, which we didn’t quite understand at first,” says lead author Dr. Will Gilbert, a quantum processor engineer at Diraq, in a media release. “But it quickly became clear that this was a powerful new way of controlling spins in a quantum dot. And that was super exciting.”  ...