{"id":57723,"date":"2025-10-02T18:43:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/57723\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T18:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:43:14","slug":"harvard-researchers-hail-quantum-computing-breakthrough-with-machine-that-can-run-for-two-hours-atomic-loss-quashed-by-experimental-design-systems-that-can-run-forever-just-3-years-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/57723\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard researchers hail quantum computing breakthrough with machine that can run for two hours \u2014 atomic loss quashed by experimental design, systems that can run forever just 3 years away"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of physicists from Harvard and MIT just built a quantum computer that ran continuously for more than two hours. Although it doesn\u2019t sound like much versus regular computers (like servers that run 24\/7 for months, if not years), this is a huge breakthrough in quantum computing. As reported by The Harvard Crimson<\/a>, most current quantum computers run for only a few milliseconds, with record-breaking machines only able to operate for a little over 10 seconds.<\/p>\n

Although two hours is still a bit limited, researchers say that the concept behind this could allow future quantum computers to run for much longer, maybe even indefinitely. \u201cThere is still a way to go and scale from where we are now,\u201d says research associate Tout T. Wang, \u201cBut the roadmap is now clear based on the breakthrough experiments that we\u2019ve done here at Harvard.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The main difference between \u201cregular\u201d and quantum computing is that the latter uses qubits, which are subatomic particles, to hold and process data. But unlike the former, which retain information even without power, quantum computers can lose these qubits in a process called \u201catom loss\u201d. This results in information loss and eventually system failure.<\/p>\n

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The research team addressed this by developing the \u201coptical lattice conveyor belt\u201d and \u201coptical tweezers\u201d to replace qubits as they\u2019re lost. This system has 3,000 qubits and allows them to inject 300,000 atoms per second into the quantum computer, overcoming the qubit loss. \u201cThere\u2019s now fundamentally nothing limiting how long our usual atom and quantum computers can run for,\u201d said Wang. \u201cEven if atoms get lost with a small probability, we can bring fresh atoms in to replace them and not affect the quantum information being stored in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other team members believe that this breakthrough will allow us to have quantum computers that can run forever in about three years. Before this, experts said that it was at least half a decade away, if not longer. Quantum computing has the potential to change the way we do computing, breaking barriers in cryptography, finance, medicine, and more. However, despite these advancements, it\u2019s unlikely that we\u2019ll have personal quantum computers in our living rooms and offices within the next decade, unless you\u2019re a physicist or researcher working on these cutting-edge devices.<\/p>\n

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