Understanding Error to Prevent it in Quantum Logic Gates

[Guest_Jim_*]

Error is a problem all computers have to deal with, and if we want to see new kinds of computing technologies in the future, the sources of error must be removed or mitigated. This is especially true for quantum computers, which are especially sensitive to error, by the nature of quantum mechanics. As reported by Springer, researchers at the University of Basel and Harvard University have learned how some error-inducing factors come to be in a potential logic gate.

One of the possible ways to avoid errors is to build networks of nanowires in a braid-like pattern, because the tight pattern helps keep them stable. The catch is that local defects can still exist on the nanowires. To gain an understanding of these defects, the researchers build a 2D network of nanowires that quasi particles would move along in a braided pattern. In this situation, the spin of the electrons involved interact with their own movement, creating a spin-orbit interaction, but because the direction of this interaction is not uniform in the network, the local defects arose.

Through their analysis the researchers found that the nanowires where the spin-orbit interaction changed contained Fermionic Bound States. These are what cause the qubits to destabilize and become a source of error. With this knowledge of the bound states' characteristics though, it may be possible to found ways to avoid their effects.

Source: Springer