A team of physicists at ETH Zürich has built the first-ever working mechanical qubit. The describe their novel idea for creating such a qubit and how well it has worked during testing.
- One of the major sticking points with quantum computers is the problem of virtual qubits, such as those made using electromagnetics, which produce errors that must be corrected.
- The research team found another way around the problem—using mechanical qubits instead.
- Instead of representing data with only ones and zeroes, qubits are able to store data in a superposition of both states.
- For this new study, the researchers built what they describe as a membrane similar to a drum skin that can hold information as a steady state, a vibrating state or a state that is both at once.
