Making quantum computing a reality

Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionise the world – in fields as diverse as security, chemistry, medicine, material science, and finance. They have the capacity to solve problems that regular computers cannot.

Professor Andrea Morello and his team at UNSW have taken significant steps towards making silicon-based quantum processors a reality. To date, they’ve achieved over 99.9% fidelity in quantum logic operations on individual qubits – signifying a crucial breakthrough on the road towards building scalable quantum computers.

A discovery that could change technology

In 2012, Prof. Morello's team created the world’s first functional quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon, demonstrating the feasibility of integrating quantum technology with existing silicon chip technology. This discovery was pivotal as it showed that building a powerful and commercially valuable quantum computer using silicon-based technology is possible.

The team then focused on enhancing the performance of their qubit. Another notable milestone arrived in 2014, when they demonstrated that quantum information could be retained in a qubit for 30 seconds, which is a significant amount of time.

This success led to the establishment of a spin-off company in 2016, which was developed in collaboration with UNSW, Federal and State Governments, Commonwealth Bank, and Telstra. It has since evolved into two entities: Silicon Quantum Computing and Diraq. Prof. Andrew Dzurak, CEO and founder of Diraq, notes that while the qubit devices Diraq uses are similar but not identical to those used by Prof. Morello’s team, his work has greatly informed their approach.

“Prof. Morello’s breakthrough results between 2010-2014 were instrumental in giving us confidence that the underlying physics of our technology approach made sense." 

- Professor Andrew Dzurak

Bringing together bright minds

While Prof. Morello anticipates it will still be another 10-20 years before the world has its first truly useful quantum computer, Prof. Morello’s team continue to make new breakthroughs in their research. In 2022, they completed quantum logic operations between two quantum bits in silicon with higher than 99% fidelity – a level of accuracy that’s crucial for practical applications of quantum computing.

The development of quantum computing is a multidisciplinary effort, requiring collaboration across physics, engineering, mathematics, and computer science. Prof. Morello emphasizes the importance of this collective approach – noting that the creation of a high-performance quantum processor involves contributions from various fields.

While there’s no reason why a quantum computer should not eventually be manufacturable, Prof. Morello believes this in itself isn’t the end of the quantum story.

“Most people think the ultimate outcome from a century of quantum computing research is that we have a quantum computer that works, and it would be a machine that never existed before which can solve problems that could otherwise not be solved”, he says. “Then there are others who think we may discover a new law of nature that prevents the quantum computer from existing. Either way – the outcome of continued research on quantum computing will be a revolution.”