Adding nanofridges to quantum computers could make them run faster

Quantum computers could run more quickly if they contained tiny quantum refrigerators.

Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, which must be reset to a special state between running programs. Teruaki Yoshioka at the Tokyo University of Science says slow reset times can become a real computational bottleneck, especially if they are slower than the speed of operations of a quantum computer.

He and his colleagues have devised a way to make this resetting process shorter by using a nano-sized quantum circuit refrigerator …