First Solid-State Quantum Processor Created

Quantum computing is the next major step in digital evolution, something that seems to be arriving much sooner than initial theories predicted. Once all of the eggs are cracked, Quantum Computing will usher in a new era of uber-fast computers. Fast enough to run Empire: Total War at a smooth frame-rate? Let’s not push it.

In a major step towards the new realm of Quantum Computers, Leonardo DiCarlo of Yale University have made the first-ever solid-state quantum processor. Prior to this discovery, quantum-based calculations needed a whole host of high-tech gizmos like lasers and ions suspended with powerful magnets.

From Nature:

DiCarlo made his device out of two transmon qubits. These are tiny pieces of a superconducting material consisting of a niobium film on an aluminium oxide wafer with gaps etched into it. A current can ‘tunnel’ across these gaps — another special property of the quantum world, where waves and particles can cross barriers without breaching them. The two qubits are separated by a cavity that contains microwaves, and the whole system connected to an electric current.

“The appeal of our processor is that it is an all-solid-state device,” says DiCarlo. It was made using standard industrial techniques. But the analogy with ordinary computers shouldn’t be overstretched, he cautions — the device works at just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero and requires special refrigeration technology.