Scientists in Australia have developed a new approach to reducing the errors that plague experimental quantum computers by taking advantage of the infinite geometric space of a particular quantum system made up of bosons (like photons).
The researchers have developed quantum error correction codes that should reduce the number of physical quantum switches, or qubits, required to scale up these machines to a useful size.
They have considered an alternative approach based on encoding quantum information in collections of bosons by trapping them in a particular microwave or optical cavity.
The need to create a large network of physical qubits to support the work of a single operating qubit is a non-trivial barrier towards constructing large-scale quantum machines.
The research has been published in Physical Review X. (Phys.org)