Quantum computers require extreme cooling to perform reliable calculations. One of the challenges preventing quantum computers from entering society is the difficulty of freezing the qubits to temperatures close to absolute zero. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Maryland, USA, have engineered a new type of refrigerator that can autonomously cool superconducting qubits to record low temperatures, paving the way for more reliable quantum computation. Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionise fundamental technologies in various sectors of society, with applications in medicine, energy, encryption, AI, and logistics. While the building blocks of a classical computer – bits – can take a value of either 0 or 1, the most common building blocks in quantum computers – qubits – can have a value of 0 and 1 simultaneously. The phenomenon is called superposition and is one of the reasons why a quantum computer can perform parallel computations, resulting in enormous computational potential. However, the time a quantum computer can work on a calculation is still significantly constrained, because it spends a lot of time correcting errors.

Full research : Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Maryland have developed an autonomous quantum refrigerator that cools superconducting qubits to record-low temperatures, improving quantum computation reliability.