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That's why UNSW's new design is so exciting: relying on its silicon spin qubit approach - which already mimics much of the solid-state devices in silicon that are the heart of the US$380 billion global semiconductor industry - it shows how to dovetail spin qubit error correcting code into existing chip designs, enabling true universal quantum computation.
Unlike almost every other major group elsewhere, CQC2T's quantum computing effort is obsessively focused on creating solid-state devices in silicon, from which all of the world's computer chips are made. And they're not just creating ornate designs to show off how many qubits can be packed together, but aiming to build qubits that could one day be easily fabricated - and scaled up.
"It's kind of swept under the carpet a bit, but for large-scale quantum computing, we are going to need millions of qubits," said Dzurak. "Here, we show a way that spin qubits can be scaled up massively. And that's the key."
The design is a leap forward in silicon spin qubits; it was only two years ago, in a paper in Nature, that Dzurak and Veldhorst showed, for the first time, how quantum logic calculations could be done in a real silicon device, with the creation of a two-qubit logic gate - the central building block of a quantum computer.
"Those were the first baby steps, the first demonstrations of how to turn this radical quantum computing concept into a practical device using components that underpin all modern computing," said Mark Hoffman, UNSW's Dean of Engineering. "Our team now has a blueprint for scaling that up dramatically.
"We've been testing elements of this design in the lab, with very positive results. We just need to keep building on that - which is still a hell of a challenge, but the groundwork is there, and it's very encouraging. It will still take great engineering to bring quantum computing to commercial reality, but clearly the work we see from this extraordinary team at CQC2T puts Australia in the driver's seat," he added.
Other CQC2T researchers involved in the design published in the Nature Communications paper were Henry Yang and Gertjan Eenink, the latter of whom has since joined Veldhorst at QuTech.
The UNSW team has struck a A$83 million deal between UNSW, Telstra, Commonwealth Bank and the Australian and New South Wales governments to develop, by 2022, a 10-qubit prototype silicon quantum integrated circuit - the first step in building the world's first quantum computer in silicon.
In August, the partners launched Silicon Quantum Computing Pty Ltd, Australia's first quantum computing company, to advance the development and commercialisation of the team's unique technologies. The NSW Government pledged A$8.7 million, UNSW A$25 million, the Commonwealth Bank A$14 million, Telstra A$10 million and the Australian Government A$25 million.
About UNSW's Faculty of Engineering
UNSW's Faculty of Engineering is the powerhouse of engineering research in Australia, comprising of nine schools and 42 research centres. It is ranked in the world's top 50 engineering faculties. It is home to Australia's largest cohort of engineering undergraduate, postgraduate, domestic and international students. UNSW is ranked #1 in Australia for producing millionaires (#33 globally) and ranked #1 in Australia for graduates who create technology start-ups.
About The Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T)
The Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) is the world's largest team working to create a universal quantum computing ecosystem. CQC2T leads the world in the race to build a quantum computer in silicon, and undertakes world-class research in optical quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum interconnects and other quantum technologies. The centre is headquartered at UNSW and comprises more than 200 researchers from nine of Australia's top research institutions.
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