Prof. Brown Leads Initiative Using Spectator Qubits to Improve Quantum Computation

Prof. Brown Leads Initiative Using Spectator Qubits to Improve Quantum Computation

Prof. Kenneth Brown (Electrical and Computer Engineerin, Physics, and Chemistry) is leading a joint U.S. and Australia Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI) looking at using spectator qubits to improve quantum computation in four physical platforms: ion traps, superconducting qubits, color centers in diamond, and donors in silicon. Qubits are the building blocks of quantum computers and the computational power of a quantum computer is limited by the quality of the qubits. Qubits are error prone due to unwanted interactions with the surrounding environment and imprecision in the applied controls. Qubits are also the best way to measure these noise sources and the idea of the project is to split qubits into data qubits, which process information, and spectator qubits, which monitor the error sources. The goal is to use the information from the spectator qubits to make quantum computation more robust. Read the Pratt School's article "Spectator Qubits Seek to Improve Control of Four Quantum Computing Systems" here.

Collaborative institution: Louisiana State University, the University of California – Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, the University of Oregon, Griffith University, the University of Technology Sydney, and the University of New South Wales.