Google breakthrough paves way for large-scale quantum computers
Google has built a quantum computer that makes fewer errors as it is scaled up, and this may pave the way for machines that could solve useful real-world problems for the first time
If a small quantum computer makes a small number of errors, will a large quantum computer make even more errors, making it completely useless? No, say researchers at Google who have made a key breakthrough in error correction for quantum devices, setting out a theoretical path to creating machines that are useful and practical.
Ordinary computers store data as bits that are either a 0 or 1, but errors can cause the bit to “flip” to the wrong value, which is why devices from smartphones to supercomputers have built-in error correction.…
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