New Superposition Records

October 12, 2014

Two distinct types of qubits, representing two pathways for building a quantum computer in silicon, have been created that process quantum data with error rates lower than 1%. One team from UNSW Australia made a silicon “artificial-atom” qubit with a device similar to the transistors in consumer electronics, while another from the same university has achieved an accuracy approaching 99.99% with a two-qubit phosphorus atom. The phosphorus atom’s nucleus was able to store quantum information for an entire 30 seconds; the longer the coherence time, the more complex calculations can be.

“Preserving a ‘quantum superposition’ for such a long time, and inside what is basically a modified version of a normal transistor, is something that almost nobody believed possible until today.”
– Andrea Morello, Associate Professor, UNSW Australia School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications

Phys.org (formerly Physorg.com) article