A Roadmap for a Scalable Topological Quantum Computer

The Herculean thrust to realize a quantum computer by many research groups around the world is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting endeavors in physics in quite some time. Notwithstanding the potential applications that have motivated many companies in this endeavor, a quantum computer represents the most promising avenue to peer into quantum phenomena on a macroscopic scale. As with any such great effort, the race to build a quantum computer has many competitors pursuing a variety of approaches, some of which appear to be on the verge of creating a small machine [1]. However, such small machines are unlikely to uncover truly macroscopic quantum phenomena, which have no classical analogs. This will likely require a scalable approach to quantum computation. A new study by Torsten Karzig from Microsoft Station Q, California, and colleagues [2] brings together the expertise of a large and diverse group of physicists, ranging from experimentalists to topologists, to lay out a roadmap for a scalable architecture based on one of the most popular approaches.