Scientists at Oxford University have linked two separate quantum processors into a single, fully connected quantum computer, marking a major step toward scalable quantum systems, the team reports in a study and university news release. The experiment, published in Nature, demonstrates the feasibility of distributed quantum computing, a strategy that could eventually enable powerful quantum machines without the need for massive single-device architectures. The advance tackles one of quantum computing’s biggest obstacles: scalability. Quantum computers rely on qubits, the quantum equivalent of classical bits, to process information. But creating a machine with millions of qubits in a single device presents engineering and stability challenges. Instead, Oxford’s researchers connected smaller quantum processors using optical fibers, allowing them to function as a unified system. Theoretically, there is no limit to how many modules could be linked this way. “By interconnecting the modules using photonic links, our system gains valuable flexibility, allowing modules to be upgraded or swapped out without disrupting the entire architecture,” said Dougal Main, a physicist at Oxford and lead author of the study.

Full research : Oxford University researchers successfully linked two quantum processors using optical fibers, demonstrating distributed quantum computing.