Underdog ‘spin qubits’ leap forward in race to a useful quantum computer

Key Points:

• Recent breakthroughs reported in Nature highlight significant progress in spin qubit quantum computers, achieving error rates around 0.2% with devices containing up to 53 qubits, marking a substantial improvement from previous two-qubit systems with 4% error rates.
• Spin qubits, made using semiconductor fabrication techniques similar to classical silicon chips, have gained renewed attention due to their improved performance and potential compatibility with existing manufacturing infrastructure.
• Other groups, including Groove Quantum and RIKEN, have reported promising results with germanium-based and ultra-low error rate spin qubit systems, indicating a growing momentum in the field.
• Despite being behind superconducting and neutral atom qubits in scale, spin qubits are now comparable in quality and error rates, prompting IBM to acquire HRL Laboratories to bolster its quantum computing research.
• Spin qubits operate by controlling the quantum spin states of electrons via electrical pulses, a concept proposed in the late 1990s, and are considered attractive due to their potential for precise control and integration with existing electronics technology.