Significant strides have been made in quantum computing, with major players like Google and IBM offering cloud-based services. However, the challenge lies in the scarcity of qubits, the basic units of quantum information. Standard qubits are vulnerable to external influences, requiring the creation of entanglements to form reliable logical qubits. The main hurdle in developing functional quantum computers is the demand for a large number of physical qubits.
While superconducting solid-state systems are favored by large corporations, they operate only at extremely low temperatures. In contrast, photon-based approaches, utilizing single photons as physical qubits, operate at room temperature. Researchers from the University of Tokyo, along with colleagues from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Palacký University Olomouc, have introduced an innovative method using laser-generated light pulses that can consist of multiple photons.
This approach overcomes the challenges of qubit losses and errors by inherently correcting them within the quantum optical state. Professor Peter van Loock of Mainz University emphasized the unique capability of a single light pulse to create a robust logical qubit. Unlike traditional methods requiring numerous light pulses to construct logical qubits, this system transforms a physical qubit into a logical qubit, eliminating the need for extensive interactions.
Although the experimental logical qubit produced is not yet at the desired error tolerance level, the researchers have demonstrated the transformation of non-universally correctable qubits into correctable qubits through cutting-edge quantum optical methods. This photon-based approach presents a groundbreaking step towards the development of more efficient and error-tolerant quantum computers.
