“Encoding the logical qubit in the seven physical qubits was a real experimental challenge,” relates Daniel Nigg, a member of Rainer Blatt’s research group. The quantum error-correcting code provided the program for this process. The researchers encoded the fragile quantum states of one logical qubit in entangled states of these particles. It arranges the qubits on a two-dimensional lattice, where they can interact with the neighboring particles.įor the experiment at the University of Innsbruck the physicists confined seven calcium atoms in an ion trap, which allows them to cool these atoms to almost absolute zero temperature and precisely control them by laser beams. “To detect and correct general errors in a quantum computer, we need highly sophisticated so-called quantum error-correcting codes.” The topological code used for this current experiment was proposed by Martin-Delgado’s research group in Madrid. Moreover, errors in the microscopic quantum world are more manifold and harder to correct than in conventional computers,” underlines Monz. “A quantum bit is extremely complex and cannot be simply copied. Together with Markus Müller and Miguel Angel Martin-Delgado from the Department for Theoretical Physics at the Complutense University in Madrid, the physicists in Innsbruck developed a new quantum error-correcting method and tested it experimentally. Errors can spread rapidly and severely disturb the computer,” says Thomas Monz, member of Rainer Blatt’s research group at the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. This also holds true for a future quantum computer, which will require procedures for error correction as well: “Quantum phenomena are extremely fragile and error-prone. To overcome these problems, computers use specific routines to continuously detect and correct errors. The slightest disturbances may alter saved information and falsify the results of calculations.
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