A bit choppy, but here are some highlights from a recent paper on improving quantum computers - i.e. the mindblowing computers of the future. Just thought I’d post to remind everyone that this hasn’t gone away just because it’s not been in the headlines lately. Research is ongoing and improving our understanding and technology.
We’re getting closer.
RCS Highlights:
…Using high magnetic fields [they] managed to suppress decoherence, which is one of the key stumbling blocks in quantum computing. “High magnetic fields reduce the level of the noises in the surroundings, so they can constrain the decoherence very efficiently,” Takahashi said. Decoherence has been described as a “quantum bug” that destroys fundamental properties that quantum computers would rely on…
Though the concepts underpinning quantum computing are not new, problems such as decoherence have hindered the construction of a fully functioning quantum computer. Think of decoherence as a form of noise or interference, knocking a quantum particle out of superposition — robbing it of that special property that makes it so useful. If a quantum computer relies on a quantum particle’s ability to be both here and there, then decoherence is the frustrating phenomenon that causes a quantum particle to be either here or there.
The researchers calculated all sources of decoherence in his experiment as a function of temperature, magnetic field, and by nuclear isotopic concentrations, and suggested the optimum condition to operate qubits, reducing decoherence by approximately 1,000 times.
via realcleverscience: