The trade calls this “logical qubits” — so, on common, 1,000 bodily qubits is equal to at least one usable, working logical qubit. In Nord Quantique’s strategy, one bodily qubit is identical as one logical qubit.
“It’s virtually like turning the error correction downside inside out,” says Sutor. “As an alternative of getting redundant qubits on the surface to create one good logical qubit, you’re specializing in the within of the qubit.”
In keeping with Sutor, quantum computer systems get fascinating at round 100,000 qubits. At a ratio of 1,000-to-one, that can require 100 million bodily qubits to perform. At the moment’s most superior quantum computer systems have lower than 1,200 qubits.
By lowering the ratio, quantum computer systems would wish a thousand instances fewer qubits, making them considerably simpler to construct and scale, whereas additionally requiring much less energy and computational error-correction overhead. Final yr, Nord Quantique demonstrated that their multiple-photons-in-a-single-qubit strategy was possible, creating qubits with as much as 30 photons inside.
The limitation then was that their error correcting photons had been solely in a position to compensate for 2 forms of errors. In immediately’s announcement, they’ve discovered how one can compensate for six forms of errors, by including an extra mode to the qubit. This makes the qubit extra resilient and correct, and opens the trail so as to add much more error-correcting modes sooner or later.
In keeping with Nord Quantique CEO Julien Camirand Lemyre, every qubit is in regards to the measurement of a walnut. Because the firm makes use of the superconducting strategy to quantum computing, it nonetheless wants that enormous chandelier to get the system cool sufficient, which takes about four-and-a-half sq. meters of flooring house.
