Check your subscription status, update your details and more. Correcting quantum computer errors may be more complicated than expected Correcting quantum computer errors is key for making the devices practical, but some types of errors, and the complications they could introduce, may be more likely to occur than we had thought Quantum computers will not become useful until researchers perfect methods for correcting errors that these devices naturally make. Quantum error-correction (QEC) techniques have advanced rapidly in recent years, but several studies now suggest that the landscape of errors they must tackle is unexpectedly complex, which poses new challenges for making quantum computers practical.
The idea of QEC dates back to the very inception of quantum computing and the first investigations of how quantum computers could be put to work. At that time, no one had built a quantum computer, so researchers relied on mathematical theory to work out how well errors could be corrected, and which computations this error correction would allow the computers to reliably complete. Now, quantum computers do exist and data about their errors is fast accumulating.
Increasingly, researchers are finding there are some types of errors that the earlier investigations had overlooked, and they could threaten quantum computers’ progress. Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with _New Scientist_ events and special offers. #### Technology ### Antipersonnel mines have returned in Ukraine and now threaten the world News #### Technology ### Google shouldn’t be pressuring schools to use its AI Comment #### Technology ### Australia’s social media ban faces high court challenge News #### Technology ### The nuclear waste repository in Finland designed to outlast modern civilisation Features Parkinson’s may be driven by ‘vicious cycle’ that disrupts brain waste drainage### Is Schrödinger’s cat both dead and alive?
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