Device with 6100 qubits is a step towards largest quantum computer yet
Quantum computers can be manufactured using atom tables
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A device with more than 6000 quantum bits, or qubits, has broken a previously held record and is the first step towards the construction of the largest quantum computer to date.
There is currently no unique consensus design for building a quantum computer, but researchers think that for these devices to be useful, they will have to understand at least tens of thousands of qubits. The current record holder is a machine from the IT atoms, with 1180 qubits, but Hannah Manetsch at the California Institute of Technology and his colleagues have now built a device with 6,100 qubits.
Each of them is an atom of neutral cesium cooled at temperatures close to absolute zero and controlled by laser beams, with all the 6100 arranged in neat grid. The researchers have designed the qubits to have properties exceptionally adapted to use in calculations, explains Manetsch, although they have not yet done.
For example, they have adjusted the frequency and power of lasers to ensure that naturally fragile qubits maintain their quantum states and that the whole grid remains stable as long as possible, which will allow more precise calculations and longer execution times for a possible quantum computer. The team has also tested to what extent lasers can move qubits between different parts of the table, which will be an important part of the management of calculations, explains Elie Bataille, also at the California Institute of Technology.
“This is an incredible demonstration of the simple scaling that neutral atoms have to offer,” explains Ben Bloom At atom Computing, which also uses neutral atoms in his device.
Mark Saffman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison says that the new experience is encouraging as proof that quantum computers of neutral atoms can be very large, but more experimental tests must be carried out before the team configuration can be considered a quantum computer in its own right.
Researchers are now starting to explore the best ways to bring their qubits to execute calculations, and do so in an error test, explains Kon Leung, a team member, also at the California Institute of Technology. In the end, they believe that they can evolve their machine to a million qubits in about a decade, he said.
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