Perimeter Institute exploring interplay of quantum mechanical laws and information processing The promise of quantum computing points to a future where highly complex problems that would have taken months, even years, to tackle with classic computers can be solved at staggering speeds and with greater precision. Think molecule simulation for drug development, traffic analysis for optimized urban planning or environmental modelling to reverse climate change – all happening in days, hours or minutes. But for this envisioned future to become reality, researchers must first resolve a persistent issue that plagues today’s quantum computer prototypes: errors triggered by causes ranging from temperature changes and electromagnetic field disruptions to imperfections in quantum circuits and algorithms. “If everything works nicely in the quantum world, we could have very powerful quantum computers capable of performing certain large-scale, complex tasks very quickly,” explains Beni Yoshida, a quantum information scientist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont. “But errors are everywhere – things like signal loss or temperature changes in the room, or even cosmic rays coming from the sky can affect the quantum information.” Dr. Yoshida is among a highly specialized group of quantum information scientists at Perimeter conducting world-class research into how quantum mechanical laws of nature affect information processing. For example, in quantum mechanics, atoms can be in a quantum “superposition” or, essentially, in multiple states simultaneously until the system is measured. In a quantum computer, this translates into the ability to process the same information multiple ways at the same time using quantum bits – or qubits for short – that can represent the binary codes zero and one simultaneously. But these ultra-fast, parallel computations can’t happen when errors get in the way – a problem that’s currently stalling the development of large-scale quantum computers. The solution lies in