MilestoneHardwareConfirmed
Princeton makes superconducting qubits that hold their state for over a millisecond
Nov 5, 2025
Princeton engineers reported in Nature transmon qubits, the superconducting type also used by Google and IBM, made of tantalum on high-quality silicon instead of sapphire. Their best qubit kept its energy for up to 1.68 milliseconds, which the team says is three times the best reported in a lab.
Why it matters
Qubits that hold information longer make fewer errors, and the design is compatible with existing industry processors, so it could improve today's superconducting machines.
Sources (2)
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Nature
Millisecond lifetimes and coherence times in 2D transmon qubits
“corresponding to a lifetime (T1) up to 1.68 ms”
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The Quantum Insider
Princeton Engineers Say New Qubit Could Make Current Quantum Computers 1,000 Times More Reliable
“In a Nov. 5 article in the journal Nature, the Princeton team reported their new qubit lasts for over 1 millisecond. This is three times longer than the best ever reported in a lab setting, and nearly 15 times longer than the industry standard for large-scale processors.”
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