A team of scientists, led by Professor Winfried Hensinger at the University of Sussex, has made a major breakthrough concerning one of the biggest problems facing quantum computing: how to reduce the disruptive effects of environmental "noise" on the highly sensitive function of a large-scale quantum computer.
In the real-world, technological developments need to operate in imperfect conditions; what can be successfully tested in a highly controlled laboratory may fail when presented with realistic environmental factors, such as the fluctuations in voltage from an electronic component or stray electromagnetic fields emitted by everyday electronic equipment.
The University of Sussex's Ion Quantum Technology Group have managed to dramatically reduce the effects of such environmental "noise" affecting trapped ion quantum computers, reporting their findings in an article that has today, Thursday 1 November 2018, been published in the journal Physical Review Letters. It means the team is one step closer to building a large-scale quantum computer with the capability to solve challenging real-world problems.
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