Underdog ‘spin qubits’ leap forward in race to a useful quantum computer

Four independent research teams have reported big advances in the design of quantum devices that rely on ‘spin qubits’ to encode information. Spin qubits are made by carving precise patterns into semiconductor wafers, forming wells that can hold a single electron. In the race to create a useful quantum computer, this design had previously not been considered a front-runner, because systems that used spin qubits were small and had high error rates. The new systems range from 5 to 18 qubits, and one has slashed the error rate to less than 0.01%.