Breakthrough in Diamond-Based Quantum Computing

New technique could lead to mass production of quantum computers.

A team of researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Sandia National Laboratories has developed a technique that could one day lead to more powerful and cost-efficient quantum computers. The technique is based on the previously known concept of using nanometer-scale defects in diamonds as qubits for a quantum computing system. The research, which is described in a recent issue of Nature Communications, pioneers a method for precisely targeting where the defects will occur in the diamond.

According to Dirk Englund, who led the MIT team, “The dream scenario in quantum information processing is to make an optical circuit to shuttle the photonic qubits and then position a quantum memory wherever you need it …. We’re almost there with this.”