Microsoft today introduced Majorana 1, the world’s first quantum chip powered by a new Topological Core architecture that it expects will realize quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.

a team of Harvard scientists has succeeded for the first time in trapping molecules to perform quantum operations. This feat was accomplished by using ultra-cold polar molecules as qubits, or the fundamental units of information that power the technology. The findings, recently published in the journal Nature, open new realms of possibility for harnessing the complexity of molecular structures for future applications.

In new work, using a superconducting qubit called fluxonium, MIT researchers in the Department of Physics, the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) developed two new control techniques to achieve a world-record single-qubit fidelity of 99.998 percent. This result complements then-MIT researcher Leon Ding’s demonstration last year of a 99.92 percent two-qubit gate fidelity.

Quantum computers require extreme cooling to perform reliable calculations. One of the challenges preventing quantum computers from entering society is the difficulty of freezing the qubits to temperatures close to absolute zero. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Maryland, USA, have engineered a new type of refrigerator that can autonomously cool superconducting qubits to record low temperatures, paving the way for more reliable quantum computation.

UK quantum technology company Aquark Technologies, in partnership with the Office of the Chief of Technology Officer (OCTO) for the Royal Navy, successfully demonstrated the capabilities of its novel cold atom technology on the Royal Navy’s HMS Pursuer vessel. The successful trial proves the robustness of Aquark’s technology for operation in demanding military conditions, unlocking new possibilities in areas such as covert monitoring that require precise signals for accurate positioning, navigation and timing.

Lower cooling requirements, longer operating times, lower error rates: Quantum computers based on spin photons and diamond promise significant advantages over competing quantum computing technologies. The consortium of the BMBF project SPINNING coordinated by Fraunhofer IAF has succeeded in decisively advancing the development of spin-photon-based quantum computers. On October 22 and 23, 2024, the partners presented the interim project results at the mid-term meeting of the BMBF funding measure Quantum Computer Demonstration Setups in Berlin.

In an article published September 23, 2024 in the journal Physical Review A, JQI researchers proposed a way to use the physics of superconducting junctions to let each function as more than one qubit. They also outlined a method to use the new qubit design in quantum simulations. While these proposed qubits might not immediately replace their more established peers, they illustrate the rich variety of quantum physics that remains to be explored and harnessed in the field.

In research led by Ingvild Hansen, a PhD student at UNSW and Diraq and supervised by Henry Yang, the work detailed how can drive qubits simultaneously and perform two-qubit logic using the same global driving microwave field.

An international team from LMU, Harvard University and the Institute of Materials Science in Japan has successfully demonstrated the detection of individual photons in the infrared spectrum by utilizing a revolutionary material called magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene. This discovery represents a significant step towards extending superconducting single-photon detection to longer-wavelength photons. The results are featured in Science Advances.

An international research team led by scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder, has demonstrated key elements of a nuclear clock. A nuclear clock is a novel type of timekeeping device that would use signals from the core, or nucleus, of an atom. The team used a specially designed ultraviolet laser to precisely measure the frequency of an energy jump in thorium nuclei embedded in a solid crystal.