Australian researchers find a more cost effective way to build quantum computers

Researchers in Australia have found a new way to build quantum computers which they say would make them dramatically easier and cheaper to produce at scale. [caption id=“attachment_4015925” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative Image[/caption] Quantum computers promise to harness the strange ability of subatomic particles to exist in more than one state at a time to solve problems that are too complex or time-consuming for existing computers. Google, IBM and other technology companies are all developing quantum computers, using a range of approaches. The team from the University of New South Wales say they have invented a new chip design based on a new type of quantum bit, the basic unit of information in the quantum computer, known as a qubit. The new design would allow for a silicon quantum processor to overcome two limitations of existing designs: the need for atoms to be placed precisely, and allowing them to be placed further apart and still be coupled. Crucially, says project leader Andrea Mello, this so-called “flip-flop qubit” means the chips can be produced using the same device technology as existing computer chips. “This makes the building of a quantum computer much more feasible since it is based on the same manufacturing technology as today’s computer industry,” Mello said. That would allow chips for quantum computers to be mass-manufactured, a goal that has so far eluded other researchers. IBM’s quantum computer in the United States has 16 qubits, meaning it can only perform basic calculations. Google’s computer has nine qubits. A desktop computer runs at gigaflops. The world’s fastest supercomputer , China’s Sunway TaihuLight , runs at 93 petaflops, but relies on 10 million processing cores and uses massive amounts of energy. In theory, even a small 30-qubit universal quantum computer could run at the equivalent of a classic computer operating at 10 teraflops. The researchers’ paper will be published in Nature Communications. Laszlo Kish, a professor at Texas A&M University, said it was too early to say if the research was a breakthrough “but it may be a step in the proper direction” in solving some of the key obstacles to quantum computing. The university has set up a company, Silicon Quantum Computing Pty Ltd, with investments from Telstra, Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and the Australian and New South Wales governments. The A$83 million company plans to build a 10-qubit prototype silicon quantum integrated circuit – the first step in building the world’s first quantum computer in silicon - by 2022.