In a major step toward practical quantum computers, Princeton engineers have built a superconducting qubit that lasts three times longer than today's best versions.
"The real challenge, the thing that stops us from having useful quantum computers today, is that you build a qubit and the information just doesn't last very long," said Andrew Houck, Princeton's dean of engineering and co-principal investigator. "This is the next big jump forward."
In an article in the journal Nature, the Princeton team report that their new qubit lasts for over 1 millisecond. This is three times longer than the best ever reported in a lab setting, and nearly 15 times longer than the industry standard for large-scale processors.
The researchers built a fully functioning quantum chip based on this qubit to validate its performance, clearing one of the key obstacles to efficient error correction and scalability for industrial systems.
The new qubit design is similar to those already used by leading companies like Google and IBM, and could easily be slotted into existing processors, according to the researchers. Swapping Princeton's components into Google's best quantum processor, called Willow, would enable it to work 1,000 times better, Houck said. The benefits of the Princeton qubit grow exponentially as system size grows, so adding more qubits would bring even greater benefit.
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