MilestoneHardwareConfirmed

Maryland researchers program a five-qubit trapped-ion computer

Aug 3, 2016

A University of Maryland team runs several quantum algorithms on five trapped-ion qubits. Software translates each algorithm into operations between the ions, allowing the same hardware to perform different calculations.

Why it matters

Reusing one processor through software is a step from experiments built for a single task toward general-purpose quantum computers.

Shantanu Debnath · Christopher Monroe · Maryland

See it on the timeline

Related

• Cirac and Zoller propose a quantum computer built from trapped ions (May 15, 1995)
• NIST team demonstrates a quantum logic gate with a single trapped ion (Dec 18, 1995)