SYDNEY, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A new quantum error correction method could slash physical qubit needs for large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers, University of Sydney research shows.
Elements of the new design have been integrated into IBM's plan to build large-scale quantum computing, according to a university statement released late Thursday.
University of Sydney physicist Dominic Williamson called the research "a promising blueprint" for building scalable quantum computers.
The new approach to reduce quantum errors applies gauge theory to track global quantum activity, such as across a "quantum hard drive," without collapsing local qubit states, according to the study published in Nature Physics.
Quantum computers calculate differently from classical machines but remain fragile to environmental interference, said Williamson, the study's co-author.
Error correction addresses this challenge by encoding quantum information across many physical qubits to detect and fix errors without disturbing computation, the study showed.
Amid global competition to build scalable quantum hardware, Williamson's research offers a pathway to dramatically reduce the physical resources needed, the statement said. ■
