The promise of so-called “quantum advantage” is simple. By harnessing the counterintuitive rules of quantum mechanics, quantum computers should be able to—in theory—surpass the computational potential of any classical supercomputer. But before quantum advantage drastically changes information technology as we know it, researchers have yet to address the many hurdles that are preventing quantum computers from entering into the mainstream. That said, quantum computing as a field has evolved dramatically over the last few years, and physicists are increasingly getting better at dealing with the extreme quirkiness of these potentially revolutionary systems. One such breakthrough concerns qubits—the smallest unit of information for quantum computers, much like a classical bit (0 or 1) on an ordinary computer. In a paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications, researchers announced a major milestone in improving the quality of qubits: a record-breaking coherence time for transmon qubits, a type of superconducting qubit. Their record—a maximum duration of 1 millisecond—far surpasses the previous time of 0.6 milliseconds, set by Fermilab last year.

Full report : For the first time ever, researchers succeeded in keeping a qubit coherent for more than 1 millisecond.