Silicon solution for qubit quandary

The teams are said to have created two types of quantum bits - qubits –that each process quantum data with an accuracy above 99 per cent. The two findings have been published simultaneously in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

‘For quantum computing to become a reality we need to operate the bits with very low error rates,’ said Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at UNSW, where the devices were made.

‘We’ve now come up with two parallel pathways for building a quantum computer in silicon, each of which shows this super accuracy,’ said associate Professor Andrea Morello from UNSW’s School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications.

According to UNSW, Dzurak has discovered a way to create an artificial atom qubit with a device similar to MOSFETs (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors).

In a statement, post-doctoral researcher Menno Veldhorst, lead author on the paper reporting the artificial atom qubit, said, ‘It is really amazing that we can make such an accurate qubit using pretty much the same devices as we have in our laptops and phones’.