News Quantum Physics

Just 10,000 quantum bits might crack internet encryption schemes

Computers based on atoms could demand a fraction of the qubits previously estimated

An grid of multitudes of quantum bits, each associated with a single logical quantum bits, pictured next to a small array of quantum bits with multiple logical quantum bits

Error correction schemes make reliable logical qubits (gold) from error-prone physical qubits (blue). A new scheme produces many more logical qubits per physical qubit (right) than traditional methods (left).

Robert Hurt/IPAC-SELab/Caltech

By Emily Conover

Powerful quantum computers may be closer than scientists thought.

To unleash the technology’s full power, scientists have long thought that quantum computers with millions of quantum bits, or qubits, would be necessary.