Latest Quantum error correction Stories

University of California - Santa Barbara By using light, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have manipulated the quantum state of a single atomic-sized defect in diamond –– the nitrogen-vacancy center –– in a method that not only allows for more unified control than conventional processes, but is more versatile, and opens up the possibility of exploring new solid-state quantum systems. Their results are published in the latest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of the...

LIVERMORE, Calif., Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation announces the 2012 Thesis Prize, given to a Hertz Fellow for the most outstanding doctoral dissertation. The Thesis Prize includes an honorarium of $5000 for each winner, and up to $1000 to acknowledge the graduate and undergraduate advisors and mentors designated by the Fellows as playing a significant role in their careers. Each year, new graduates submit dissertations completed during the...

A girl's best friend has stepped into the digital age as scientists from the University of Southern California have built a quantum computer inside a diamond. The scientists reported in the journal Nature on Thursday that their diamond quantum computer system features two quantum bits, or qubits, made of subatomic particles. Qubits are able to encode a one and a zero at the same time, compared to traditional computer bits, which encode distinctly either a one or a zero. Being able to...

Thanks to advances in experimental design, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have achieved a record-low probability of error in quantum information processing with a single quantum bit (qubit)—the first published error rate small enough to meet theoretical requirements for building viable quantum computers. A quantum computer could potentially solve certain problems that are intractable using today's technology, even supercomputers. The NIST...

Repetitive error correction in a quantum processorA general rule in data processing is that disturbances cause the distortion or deletion of information during data storage or transfer. Methods for conventional computers were developed that automatically identify and correct errors: Data are processed several times and if errors occur, the most likely correct option is chosen. As quantum systems are even more sensitive to environmental disturbances than classical systems, a quantum computer...

Quantum computers may be much easier to build than previously thought, suggests a new study in Physical Review LettersQuantum computers should be much easier to build than previously thought, because they can still work with a large number of faulty or even missing components, according to a study published today in Physical Review Letters. This surprising discovery brings scientists one step closer to designing and building real-life quantum computing systems "“ devices that could have...

The rules that govern the world of the very small, quantum mechanics, are known for being bizarre. One of the strangest tenets is something called quantum entanglement, in which two or more objects (such as particles of light, called photons) become inextricably linked, so that measuring certain properties of one object reveals information about the other(s), even if they are separated by thousands of miles. Einstein found the consequences of entanglement so unpalatable he famously dubbed it...

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a technique for efficiently suppressing errors in quantum computers. The advance could eventually make it much easier to build useful versions of these potentially powerful but highly fragile machines, which theoretically could solve important problems that are intractable using today's computers.The new error-suppression method, described in the April 23 issue of Nature,* was demonstrated using an...

Highlighting another challenge to the development of quantum computers, theorists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown* that a type of software operation, proposed as a solution to fundamental problems with the computers' hardware, will not function as some designers had hoped.Quantum computers"”if they can ever be realized"”will employ effects associated with atomic physics to solve otherwise intractable problems. But the NIST team has proved that the...

Quantum computers that store information in so-called quantum bits (or qubits) will be confronted with a fundamental limitation. This is the claim made by Dutch theoretical physicists from the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) and Leiden University in an article recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters. A quantum computer can only function if the information exists for long enough to be processed. The so-called coherence of the qubit ensures that the quantum...