Physicists at the University of Oxford have set a new global benchmark for controlling a single quantum bit, achieving an error rate of 0.000015% in a recent experiment. This represents nearly an order of magnitude improvement over their previous record and is equivalent to only one error occurring every 6.7 million operations.
To put this into perspective, the likelihood of being struck by lightning in a given year (1 in 1.2 million) is higher than the chance of an Oxford quantum logic gate making a mistake. The team’s achievement marks a significant advance towards building robust and useful quantum computers that can tackle real-world problems.
The researchers used a trapped calcium ion as their qubit, which offers a long lifetime and robustness, making it an ideal choice for storing quantum information. Unlike traditional methods using lasers, the Oxford team controlled the quantum state of the calcium ions using electronic signals, resulting in greater stability and lower costs.
This breakthrough has implications for future quantum computers being smaller, faster, and more efficient. The reduced error rate also reduces the infrastructure required for error correction, making it a crucial step towards building practical quantum machines.
While this achievement is a major milestone, the team acknowledges that further challenges lie ahead. Reducing two-qubit gate errors will be essential to building fully fault-tolerant quantum machines. Nevertheless, this record-breaking result demonstrates the significant progress being made in the field of quantum computing and its potential applications.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2025-06-physicists-world-qubit-accuracy.html