In a research article just published on the arXiv preprint server the research team from TU Darmstadt in Germany reports on the world’s first successful experiment to realise a quantum-processing architecture that contains more than 1,000 atomic qubits in one single plane.
The researchers used a novel method of “quantum bit supercharging” that enabled researchers to overcome the limitations imposed by the performance of lasers on the number of usable qubits. By implementing this method, 1305 single-atom qubits were successfully loaded into a quantum array with 3,000 trap sites and reassembled into defect-free target structures containing up to 441 qubits. Utilizing several laser sources in parallel, this approach addressed what was previously considered to be an insurmountable technological barriers.
The paper further outlines how increasing the number of laser sources could enable the use of 10,000 qubits and beyond in the coming years.
For many applications, 1,000 qubits is regarded as the threshold value at which the efficiency boost promised by quantum computers can be demonstrated, i.e. the threshold to achieving quantum supremacy.
The full paper is available on the arXiv preprint server here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.09191
