IBM claims quantum computing breakthroughs

Advances could make quantum computing a practical reality within 10 years

IBM says it has made significant breakthroughs in the development of quantum computers, which could result in such systems becoming a reality in little more than a decade.

Researchers at IBM's Watson facility in New York said they have devised a mechanism to create the fundamental building blocks of quantum computers that will be stable enough to allow for use in real-world applications.

Quantum computers rely on a basic unit to carry information known as a qubit.

Unlike the traditional bit, which stores information as a one or a zero, qubits allow information to be stored as both a one and zero simultaneously, potentially enabling researchers to create vastly more powerful computers.

Unfortunately, creating stable qubits has proved a challenge because heat, electromagnetic radiation and any tiny defects in the materials used can result in errors in calculations – a process termed quantum decoherence.

Now IBM researchers have been able to create qubits that retain their quantum states for up to 100 microseconds – a minuscule amount of time, but up to four times longer than some previous efforts.

It should also be long enough to make the development of quantum computer systems a practical reality, said Matthias Steffen, the leader of IBM's quantum computing team.

"The quantum computing work we are doing shows it is no longer just a brute force physics experiment. It's time to start creating systems based on this science that will take computing to a new frontier," he said.

That work built on previous research from computer scientists at Yale University.

IBM also said its researchers have been able to build a two-qubit logic operation – a controlled NOT-gate, which is a fundamental component for a quantum computer – that can operate with a 95 per cent success rate.