December 22, 2024

Quantum computing needs the right combination of order and disorder

Quantum computing needs the right combination of order and disorder

Researchers at University of Cologne have analyzed cutting-edge device structures of quantum computers to demonstrate that some of them are indeed operating dangerously close to a threshold of chaotic meltdown.

The challenge is to walk a thin line between too high, but also too low disorder to safeguard device operation.

Qubits interlinked to form a computing structure define a system of coupled pendulums — a system that, like classical pendulums, can easily be excited to uncontrollably large oscillations with disastrous consequences. In the quantum world, such uncontrollable oscillations lead to the destruction of quantum information; the computer becomes unusable. Intentionally introduced local ‘detunings’ of single pendulums keep such phenomena at bay.

The study has been published today in Nature Communications.

Read more.