Solving quantum computing’s chronic forgetfulness is the aim of a new international project led by the University of Surrey. The work will focus on protecting fragile quantum information from decoherence and loss – a key barrier to the technology’s progression. If successful, it could pave the way for powerful, scalable quantum systems capable of transforming sectors such as drug discovery, finance, clean energy and new material design.
Backed by €1 million in funding through the European QuantERA initiative and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), PROTEQT brings together experts from University College London in the UK, Université de Strasbourg in France and The Technion in Israel. Working in collaboration with University College London, Surrey researchers will focus on improving quantum memory by developing smarter, more stable circuits that reduce reliance on large numbers of error-prone components.
Central to these efforts is their newly patented memory circuit design, dubbed the Magenium qubit, which stores information in the lowest-energy states of small, symmetric clusters of qubits – the fundamental building blocks of quantum computers. This structure is naturally resistant to several sources of noise and instability, potentially allowing quantum data to last significantly longer than current methods allow. Without this kind of innovation, quantum computing may never achieve the scale or reliability needed to solve real-world problems.
Dr Eran Ginossar, Associate Professor at the University of Surrey’s School of Mathematics and Physics, said:
“Quantum memory is extremely fragile. Qubits forget their information very quickly, and that makes it difficult to scale up or do anything useful with today’s machines. It’s one of the biggest bottlenecks we face as a community.
“Through the PROTEQT project, we’re working on a prototype that stores quantum information in small, symmetric clusters of qubits. This structure is naturally more resistant to noise, which could help the information stay around much longer. If it works, it could mean we need far fewer components to build reliable, large-scale quantum computers.”
To solve useful problems in fields such as molecular simulation or logistics optimisation, experts estimate that quantum systems will need between several hundred to several thousand logical qubits – highly reliable units made by combining many physical qubits. In today’s systems, thousands of unstable physical qubits would be required to create just one logical qubit, pushing the total requirement into the millions. PROTEQT aims to drastically reduce that number by building protection into the physical structure of the memory itself, rather than relying solely on complex error-correction software.
Over the next three years, the team will fabricate and test the Magenium design on two of the most promising quantum hardware platforms – superconducting circuits and Rydberg atoms – both of which offer the stability and precision needed to support this novel approach.
Dr Marzena Szymanska, Professor of Physics at University College London, said:
“It’s an exciting time to work in this field now. The first quantum computers are beginning to be able to solve useful problems and are at the edge to overtake the best classical computers. It is the beginning of the new “quantum era”.
The project could lay the groundwork for commercial quantum systems that are more scalable, efficient and practical. The technology may also eventually be licensed to hardware developers or adapted for use in sectors like finance, energy and pharmaceuticals.
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