Scientists at the University of Sussex and Universal Quantum have achieved a landmark breakthrough in quantum computing, demonstrating for the first time that quantum bits (qubits) can directly transfer between quantum computer microchips with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
The research team used a novel technique called "UQ Connect" to enable qubits to move from one quantum computing microchip module to another using electric field links. The qubits were transported with a 99.999993% success rate and a connection rate of 2,424 per second — both world records and orders of magnitude better than previous solutions.
Currently, quantum computers operate on the 100-qubit scale, but experts predict that millions of qubits will be required to solve crucial problems that cannot be addressed by today's supercomputers, such as drug discovery and improving the energy efficiency of fertilizer production.
"As quantum computers grow, we will eventually be constrained by the size of the microchip, which limits the number of quantum bits such a chip can accommodate," said Professor Winfried Hensinger, Professor of Quantum Technologies at the University of Sussex and Chief Scientist at Universal Quantum. "As such, we knew a modular approach was key to make quantum computers powerful enough to solve step-changing industry problems."
Crucially, the scientists confirmed that the quantum nature of the qubit remains untouched during transport — meaning the qubit can exist in superposition (being both zero and one at the same time) throughout the transfer process.
Universal Quantum has been awarded €67 million from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to build two quantum computers implementing this technology, one of the largest government quantum computing contracts ever given to a single company.
The research, published in the paper "A high-fidelity quantum matter-link between ion-trap microchip modules," represents a significant step toward scaling quantum computers by connecting hundreds or even thousands of microchips together, potentially unlocking solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges.
