Quantum computing has advanced rapidly in recent years. Two of the leading qubit technologies are trapped ions and superconducting qubits. As we enter 2024, it’s worth comparing these approaches to understand their relative strengths and weaknesses. This will provide insight into which technology is better poised for continued progress.
How Qubits Work?
Before comparing trapped ion and superconducting qubits, it’s helpful to understand what makes a good qubit. Qubits are the basic units of information in quantum computers, similar to classical bits in regular computers. However, qubits can exist as a superposition of 0 and 1 simultaneously due to the quantum mechanical phenomenon of superposition.
Good qubits need to balance two opposing properties:
- Long Coherence Times: The qubit can maintain its quantum state for as long as possible before decoherence occurs. This allows more operations to be performed.
- Fast, High-Fidelity Gates: Quantum logic operations (gates) can be applied to qubits rapidly and with high accuracy. More complex algorithms require many sequential gates.
The type of physical system used to implement the qubit impacts these properties in different ways. Next we’ll see how trapped ions and superconducting qubits compare.
Trapped Ion Qubits
Trapped ion qubits use individual atoms as qubits. Typically beryllium or elemental ytterbium atoms are used. The atoms are trapped in electromagnetic fields and laser-cooled to extremely low temperatures: The qubit states are the energy levels of a single electron bound to the ion. Manipulating the electron with precisely tuned lasers allows setting, flipping, and reading out the qubit state.
Trapped Ion Qubit Advantages
Trapped ion qubits benefit from very long coherence times of up to 10 minutes, allowing many operations within a single computation. Their state can also be read out with very high fidelity. These are innate advantages of qubits based on atomic energy levels. The trapped ion approach also enables entanglement between qubits by coupling them using vibrational modes. This allows multi-qubit gates to be performed. In 2024, groups at IonQ and Honeywell Quantum Solutions have demonstrated entanglement of up to 20 individually trapped and controlled ion qubits. Gate fidelities exceeding 99.9% have also been achieved.
Trapped Ion Qubit Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of trapped ions is slower gate speeds compared to superconducting qubits. Current systems are limited to gate times on the order of 10-100 microseconds. Scaling trapped ions to larger grids capable of surface code error correction also presents engineering challenges.
Researchers continue working to improve gate speeds and fidelities, develop better qubit coupling methods, and solve scalability issues. But fundamental limitations of ions trapped in vacuum chambers present barriers.
Superconducting Qubits
In contrast to trapped ion qubits, superconducting qubits are based on artificial atoms etched into superconducting materials and operated at cryogenic temperatures. Popular realizations include transmons, flux qubits, and charge qubits. The advantage of this artificial atom approach is that the qubits can be fabricated using techniques adapted from silicon device manufacturing. This enables placing many interconnected qubits on a single chip to allow larger grids.
Similar to trapped ions, laser pulses applied through on-chip wiring manipulate the qubit states. But rather than atomic energy levels, the qubit basis states correspond to ground or excited states of an electromagnetic LC oscillator. Qubit state readout uses microwave signals to probe resonance shifts conditional on the qubit state. This allows determining if the qubit is in state 0 or 1 at the end of an algorithm.
Superconducting Qubit Advantages
The main advantage of superconducting qubits is faster gate operations compared to trapped ions, with times as low as 10-20 nanoseconds. This enables packing more operations within the coherence time.
Scaling to 2D grids of interconnected qubits for error correction is more straightforward with lithographic fabrication techniques. Solid state implementations may also allow easier integration with classical electronics for controls and readout. In early 2024, IBM has announced Osprey, a 433-qubit superconducting quantum processor. This represents a leap in qubit count compared to 2023’s 127-qubit Eagle processor.
Superconducting Qubit Disadvantages
Despite rapid scaling, coherence times for superconducting qubits remain a weakness compared to trapped ions. While times up to 500 microseconds have been reported, most devices operate at 50-100 microseconds. This leaves less room for mistake free operations.
Moreover, the lithographic fabrication process can introduce variability between qubits in a system. Ensuring uniform, high performance qubits as processor sizes increase will require continued research into materials, design, and fabrication techniques. Qubit connectivity also becomes more complex for large grids and 3D integration. New coupling mechanisms may be needed for modularity.
Current Outlook and Future Prospects
In 2024, both trapped ion and superconducting qubits continue demonstrating rapid improvement and appeal. Trapped ions benefit from longer coherence times and higher operation fidelities, while superconducting qubits feature faster gates and easier scaling prospects. It remains unclear which approach may win out in the long term. Both qubit varieties have strengths that can enable different applications in the noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) era over the next 5-10 years. Trapped ions may shine for quantum simulation, while superconducting excels at hybrid algorithms.
Looking ahead, most experts expect both technologies will continue playing important complementary roles. Widely discussed concepts like ion trap arrays integrated with superconducting grids show promise for combining the best of both worlds. Continued exponential progress depends on further research and discovery into areas like:
- Novel qubit encoding schemes
- Improved gate coupling mechanisms
- Lower noise cryogenic interfaces
- Advances in quantum error correction
Government initiatives like the National Quantum Initiative Act provide support for these research priorities. With ongoing investments into trapped ion, superconducting, and other qubit modalities, the 2020s look bright for quantum computing. This drive ensures qubits will keep getting better, faster, and more scalable, promising profound impacts once fault tolerance is achieved.
Conclusion
In summary, both trapped ion and superconducting qubits have unique strengths vying for leadership in the quantum computing space:
Trapped Ion Qubits
- Extremely long coherence times
- High gate fidelities
- Entanglement through ion interactions
- Limitations in scaling complexity
Superconducting Qubits
- Ultrafast, low-latency gate operations
- Ease of scaling to large grids
- Integration with classical electronics
- Shorter coherence times
It is unlikely either technology will become outright obsolete in the foreseeable future. The next decade will see both continue advancing via parallel tracks to hit different niche application areas in the NISQ era. True fault tolerance will require combining the best aspects of multiple qubit modalities. This provides exciting motivation to drive trapped ion, superconducting, and other quantum hardware platforms towards new capabilities year after year.
FAQs
Which type of qubit currently has the longest demonstrated coherence time?
Trapped ion qubits hold the record, with times up to 10 minutes reported. Superconducting qubits operate at 50-500 microseconds typically.
Can trapped ions scale to the same grid sizes as superconducting chips?
Not easily. Individual trapped ions are limited to current trap array sizes of ~20-30 qubits. Superconducting can leverage lithography to create large grids.
What enables multi-qubit gates with trapped ions?
Shared vibrational modes allow coupling the internal states of ions to enable conditional logic operations between them.
Why do superconducting qubits require cryogenic temperatures?
To reach superconductivity critical to qubit operation, chips are cooled to 10-20 millikelvin using a dilution refrigerator system.
How are new materials advancing superconducting qubit performance?
Using higher quality superconductors like Niobium Titanium Nitride (NbTiN) allow longer qubit lifetimes. 3D integration schemes stacking wiring layers help too.
What enables scaling trapped ion qubits to intermediate sizes?
New microfabricated trap arrays from groups like Honeywell allow more modular ions in the same vacuum system. This can extend to ~100 qubits.
Will cryogenic refrigeration limit superconducting qubit count?
Improved dilution fridge designs provide increased cooling power for next-gen chips. But heat dissipation will become a challenge needing creative solutions at extreme scales.
