Qblox readies its modular controller for a variety of quantum computers

Quantum computing is a promising technology that is on its way to create a new generation of powerful supercomputers. In the near future, these look to take on complex problems that no classical computer could ever solve. To achieve this, a quantum computer uses quantum mechanical phenomena and calculation units called qubits. Instead of ‘normal’ computer bits that can be either 1 or 0, a qubit can be 1 and 0 at the same time – so-called superposition. Moreover, qubits can be entangled. This means that two or more of them are correlated and an operation on one can instantaneously affect the other(s), regardless of the distance between them.

At the moment, quantum computers require rather large setups. The qubits are positioned on a chip that’s placed in a cryostat that cools down to a temperature of about 10 mK – near absolute zero. Such a low temperature is essential to avoid noise in the system caused by heat, for this would result in the qubits losing their information. The cooling part of the installation already takes up a lot of physical space.