![]() ![]() The chip itself is located on the lowest level of a large cryostat – a special cooling device – and operates at a temperature of just 0.01 Kelvin, barely above absolute zero. The highly specialised electronics used to control the qubits on the chip were manufactured by ETH spin-off Zurich Instruments. “But for most arithmetic operations, that’s not even necessary.” “Right now, we’re not correcting the errors directly in the qubits,” admits Sebastian Krinner, a scientist in Wallraff’s group and lead author of the study together with Nathan Lacroix. The control electronics then correct the measurement signal accordingly. If a disturbance occurring in the logical qubit distorts the information, the system recognises this disturbance as an error. ![]() The remaining eight qubits on the chip are offset from them their task is to detect errors in the system. Nine of the chip’s 17 qubits are arranged in a square three-by-three lattice and together form what is known as a logical qubit: the computational unit of a quantum computer. (Image: ETH Zurich / Daniel Winkler) Nathan Lacroix, Doctoral Student in Andreas Wallraff's research group. ![]() (Image: ETH Zurich / Daniel Winkler) The quantum-computing chip in the cryostat is controlled using a multitude of signal lines which are not visible from the outside during normal operation. (Image: ETH Zurich / Daniel Winkler) Andreas Wallraff, Professor for Solid State Physics in the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich and founding director of the university's Quantum Center. (Image: ETH Zurich / Daniel Winkler) The wires leading to the chip are made of special materials that allow to work reliably with the quantum processor even at extremely low temperatures. (Image: ETH Zurich / Daniel Winkler) Sebastian Krinner, Senior Assistant in Andreas Wallraff's research group. (Image: ETH Zurich / Daniel Winkler) Nathan Lacroix (front) and Sebastian Krinner adjust the chip's wiring before its next use in the cryostat. (Image: ETH Zurich / Quantum Device Lab) Christopher Eichler, Senior Scientist at the Department of Physics. (Image: ETH Zurich / Quantum Device Lab) The quantum computer chip, mounted on a printed circuit board. The structure of the quantum computer chip with 17 qubits (in yellow). #Quantum error correction with superconducting qubits code#The research team performed the error correction with what is known as the surface code – a method in which the quantum information of a qubit is distributed over several physical qubits. The researchers achieved this important success using a chip, specially produced in ETH Zurich’s own cleanroom laboratory, which features a total of 17 superconducting qubits. Wallraff’s team has now presented the first system that can repeatedly detect as well as correct both types of errors. Previous error correction methods have been unable to simultaneously detect and correct both the fundamental types of error that occur in quantum systems. The scientists have just published a paper on this as a external pagepreprint call_made on and submitted it to a journal for publication. “The demonstration that errors in a quantum computer working with quantum bits (qubits) can be corrected quickly and repeatedly is a breakthrough on the road to building a practical quantum computer,” says Andreas Wallraff, Professor at the Department of Physics and Director of the Quantum Center at ETH Zurich. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in overcoming an important hurdle: for the first time, they have been able to automatically correct errors in quantum systems to such an extent that the results of quantum operations can be used in practice. However, uncertainty exists as to whether, or not, they will ever be able to replace conventional computers because quantum computers have a problem: they are extremely error-prone, and error correction is very demanding. ![]() Quantum computers are seen as a beacon of hope for future information processing. ![]()
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