Just a few days ago we heard the news of the creation of a transistor with a single atom, a step towards the production of quantum computers. Now there are news in this field from IBM, precisely from scientists at IBM Research.

The team at IBM Research made very important progress in reducing the error in elementary computations and in maintaining the integrity of the quantum properties of qubits. A key element in the production of superconducting qubit was to use manufacturing techniques developed for the production with silicon currently in use.

In essence, the production of qubits won’t require the creation of entirely new machinery, which would talke a long time and a cost that could become very high. This doesn’t mean that tomorrow the first quantum computers will be ready but the possibility of adapting existing production technologies is important.

Matthias Steffen, scientist and manager at IBM Research, pointed out that it’s not just a scientific experiment: the purpose of his team is to create quantum computers operating with computing capabilities that will reach a new frontier.

The potential of quantum computers is enormous in the field of data encryption but also in searching databases of unstructured information, performing a number of optimization tasks and solve mathematical problems previously unsolvable.

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One of the major challenges for scientists who are trying to exploit the potentiality of quantum computing is to control or eliminate quantum decoherence, the creation of calculation errors caused by interference of factors such as heat, electromagnetic radiation and defects in materials.

Scientists have experimented for years to find ways to reduce errors and increase the time in which the qubits maintain their quantum properties. When this time becomes sufficiently long, the patterns of fixes are effective and allow you to perform lengthy or complex calculations.

IBM conducted experiments with three-dimensional superconducting qubits following an approach started at Yale University. In this type of 3D qubits the time in which the quantum states are maintained reached 100 microseconds, enough to apply correction schemes.

In another experiment, IBM produced a more traditional two-dimensional qubit and a logical operation with two qubits, a fundamental building block for the creation of a quantum system. Their operations showed a success rate of 95%, achieved thanks to a coherence time of almost 10 microseconds.

David DiVincenzo, professor at the Institute of Quantum Information, expressed his optimism about the possibility for IBM to build a quantum computer. Obviously, despite the progress of the IBM Research team, it will take some time to have a computer that has any practical use but the progress made by IBM are truly amazing.