Perimeter Institute explains how error correction makes quantum computing possible

After three decades of incremental progress, quantum computing is nearing practicality thanks to ingenious workarounds, according to Perimeter Institute. The development of a growing “Quantum Valley” in Waterloo Region reflects significant industry and investor excitement surrounding the technology, which promises expanded scientific calculation speeds but also poses a threat to current internet security. “Quantum computers hold the potential to quickly and easily break the encryption that much of the modern Internet relies on,” notes Katie Mack, Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at Perimeter. The key to realizing this potential, however, lies in overcoming the inherent instability of quantum systems through quantum error correction. Michele Mosca, a professor at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing and Perimeter associate faculty and founding member, initially doubted the feasibility of quantum computing due to the significant challenge of error correction in inherently fragile quantum systems. “I was one of the early skeptics of quantum computing because it just didn’t seem like it would ever be possible to correct the errors, given the inherent fragility of a quantum system,” Mosca told Perimeter in an interview, reflecting a perspective held before advancements in error correction techniques. This skepticism stemmed from the fundamental…