One of the biggest remaining technical hurdles in the race to build practical quantum computers has been cleared, according to experts in the field, potentially opening the way for the first full-scale systems by the end of this decade.
The latest sign of the growing optimism in the decades-long pursuit of practical computers based on the principles of quantum mechanics follows a claim by Google that it had passed an important milestone in overcoming the inherent instability of quantum systems.
The findings have been attracting attention in the quantum computing world since they were first published informally in August. On Monday, they appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.