Scientists overcome a hidden obstacle to more powerful quantum computers

Scientists have discovered a way to operate multiple silicon qubits simultaneously with remarkable accuracy, overcoming a major challenge in scaling up quantum computers. Their new technique maintained accuracy of about 99.9% even when all five qubits were running at once, opening the door to larger and more powerful quantum processors. Scientists overcome a hidden obstacle to more powerful quantum computers.

Researchers have faced a significant challenge. When multiple silicon qubits are controlled at the same time, their operations tend to become less accurate. Building practical, large quantum computers will require scientists to control many qubits simultaneously while keeping errors to a minimum.

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and their collaborators have now made important progress toward solving this problem. In a study published in Nature Physics, the team demonstrated highly accurate control of several silicon spin qubits operating simultaneously. Their experiments used an array of five qubits connected to a shared microwave control line.