• BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    ·
    edit-2
    17 days ago

    As stable as that dime is, it’s utterly useless for all practical purposes.

    What Google is talking about it making a stable qbit - the basic unit of a quantum computer. It’s extremely difficult to make a qbit stable - and as it underpins how a quantum computer would work instability introduces noise and errors into the calculations a quantum computer would make.

    Stabilising a qbit in the way Google’s researchers have done shows that in principle if you scale up a quantum computer it will get more stable and accurate. It’s been a major aim in the development of quantum computing for some time.

    Current quantum computers are small and error prone. The researchers have added another stepping stone on the way to useful quantum computers in the real world.

    • Buttons@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      17 days ago

      It sounds like your saying a large quantum computer is easier to make than a small quantum computer?

      • logicbomb@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        17 days ago

        That is one of the things the article says. That making certain parts of the processor bigger reduces error rates.

      • obbeel@lemmy.eco.br
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        17 days ago

        I think that means the current quantum computers made using photonics, right? Those are really big though.