Qubit Resilience via Topological Insulators. Purdue University scientists’ efforts have brought insulating qubits [quantum bits] one step closer to scalable-reality. A new material developed has been engineered into a “nanoribbon”, conducting electrical current on the surface but not below. Termed a “topological insulator”, the strip, when connected to two superconductor electrical leads composes a device called a “Josephson Junction.”
Why Is this Needed? “In a quantum computer, a qubit ‘entangles’ with other qubits. This means that reading the quantum information from one qubit automatically affects the result from another, no matter how far apart they are. Without entanglement, the speedy calculations that set apart quantum computing can’t happen. But entanglement and the quantum nature of the qubits are also sensitive to noise, so they need extra protection.”
Purdue University scientist’s efforts have brought insulating qubits one step closer to scalable-reality. The material developed has been engineered into a “nanoribbon”, conducting electrical current on the surface but not below. Termed a “topological insulator”, the strip, when connected to two superconductor electrical leads forms a device called a “Josephson Junction.” (Image Credit: Morteza Kayyalha/Purdue University)
The Josephson Junction Device. The Josephson Junction device is one tiny but sophisticated type of hardware showing promise in strengthening qubit resilience. “This resilience could come from special properties created by conducting a supercurrent on the surface of a topological insulator, where an electron’s spin is locked to momentum.” The team’s goal is to maintain the qubit’s quantum information as long as possible with the aid of the device.
The key to qubit resilience is a supercurrent flowing through the surface of the topological insulator of the device and remains a focus area of research.
