Quantum computers have arrived, with their potential to tackle problems unsolvable by conventional computing, albeit for niche uses such as predicting the properties of complex molecules.
For quantum computers to become practical for large-scale complex-problem solving, several chokepoints need to be overcome. One of the most critical is the requirement for temperatures just a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible where particle motion stops.
“Not only are the dilution refrigerators needed to reach these temperatures costly and complicated, but they also only lower the temperature of a small region,” explains quantum physicist Dongling Deng from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. “If we want to build a large-scale quantum processor, it is better to work at higher temperatures.”
A move to room temperature is probably decades away, but even a modest increase in operating temperature would be practically important. At a few degrees above absolute zero at 5 kelvin, simpler helium-based refrigeration could be used, making this an important goal for the field.
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