(Phys.org) Even quantum computers make mistakes. Despite their great potential, qubits are extremely fragile and prone to errors due to the interactions with the external environment.
To solve this crucial issue, an international research group developed and implemented a new protocol that protects fragile quantum information and corrects errors due to qubit loss.
“Developing a fully functioning quantum processor still represents a great challenge for scientists across the world,” explains Davide Vodola who is one of the authors of the study as well as a researcher at the University of Bologna. “This research allowed us, for the first time, to implement a protocol that can detect and, at the same time, correct errors due to qubit loss. This ability could prove to be essential for the future development of large-scale quantum computers.”
“To solve this problem, the first thing our research group did was to develop an effective theoretical approach to the issue,” says Vodola. “We managed to show that the information stored in a register with some qubits can be protected and fully retrieved in case one of these qubits gets lost.”
Then, the research group implemented this protocol in a real-life quantum processor.