Quantum computing gets an error boost

Nature News : Three years ago, Australian quantum physicist Andrew White built a quantum computing machine that shouldn’t have worked.A quantum computer relies on exploiting subatomic physics, and despite requiring immaculate laboratory conditions to work, the quantum systems behind the machine quickly break down.White tried using an unorthodox quantum algorithm that seemed to turn that lesson on its head.In this scheme, messiness and disorder would be virtues, not vices — and perturbations in the quantum system would drive computation, not disrupt it. The machine worked.White’s experiment is just one of several in recent years that have suggested a fresh approach to quantum computers using a quantum resource called discord, which would be far cheaper and easier to maintain in the lab.More experiments will be required to convince the many skeptics that the approach will work. But if it pans out, the era of widespread quantum computation could arrive sooner than anyone expected.