#quantumsystems

Quantum leap research fills the “Crucial Gap” in continuous-variable computing

Continuous-variable quantum computing

One of quantum information technology's biggest mysteries has been solved by specialists. The work, “Continuous-variable fault-tolerant quantum computation under general noise,” is the first to show how to make continuous-variable quantum systems reliable in chaotic, unpredictable noise. A hitherto theoretically absent “fault-tolerant threshold” is developed by Takaya Matsuura, Hayata Yamasaki, and Nicolas C. Menicucci.

Potential and Challenges of Continuous Variables

Continuous-variable quantum systems incorporate information into electromagnetic fields like light, unlike “discrete-variable” quantum computers that use qubits (0 and 1). This approach scales well since it uses optical transmission technology and produces large entangled states deterministically.

Continuous-variable quantum systems have generally lagged in fault tolerance, a computer's ability to rectify its own faults during calculations. For years, researchers could only prove continuous-variable quantum systems' dependability using very simple noise models like Gaussian random displacement. In reality, noise is rarely so simple. Experimental errors like random phase rotations or “non-Gaussian” quantum state approximations can lead calculations to fail. The authors called the lack of a universal CV noise-to-logical qubit noise conversion method a “crucial gap” in the field.

Overcoming the “Unphysical” Obstacle

Researchers focused on the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) code, a complicated quantum information protection method. Despite its flexibility and error-correcting qualities, the GKP code has a fundamental mathematical flaw: its “ideal” form is nonnormalizable, requiring infinite energy. For theorists, this “unphysicality” made fault tolerance requirements difficult to express.

The team avoided this by stabilizer subsystem decomposition. With this mathematical paradigm, they could view the CV system as a syndrome subsystem and logical qubit. They could then create a fault-tolerance criterion independent of infinite-energy, unphysical conditions. This breakthrough provides complete fault-tolerant digitization for continuous variables.

The Energy Management Role

The new study found that regulating a quantum state's energy is as important as repairing its errors. If energy (average photon number) rises endlessly during a calculation in CV systems, a state becomes more noise-prone. A slight phase rotation would not hurt a low-energy state but cause a significant mistake for a high-energy state.

Researchers solved this with a Knill-type (teleportation-based) error corrector. This process periodically “teleports” quantum information into a new state with a steady energy level. The computer resets energy to prevent irreparable errors. This conclusion highlights a crucial difference between continuous and discrete systems: CV computing fault tolerance requires energy control.

universal threshold theorem

This study shown that Continuous Variable quantum computing has a fault-tolerant threshold against universal Markovian-type noise in Theorem 1. The theory guarantees a reliable logical circuit if a physical CV system's noise is below a “strength” and “displacement” threshold.

Researchers showed that concatenating the GKP code with qubit-based error-correcting codes can arbitrarily suppress errors, enabling complex, large-scale calculations. This discovery addresses many experimental issues, including non-Gaussian state preparation, optical loss, and inadequate detector resolution.

Guide Future Experiments

The Silent Revolution: Topology Changes Quantum Computing's Resilience

In the race to build a quantum computer, speed and survival are the major challenges. At a Montana State University Quantum Collaborative Research and Education (QCORE) seminar, theoretical physicist David Ayala introduced Topological Quantum Computing, a novel approach. Ayala spoke to a group of scientists and engineers on October 22, 2025, explaining how topology, a branch of mathematics, provides the “armour” needed to protect delicate quantum information from chaotic interference.

Fragility of Quantum State

The session began with quantum systems' “extraordinary challenge”—extreme fragility. Even minor thermal noise, electromagnetic interference, or material imperfections can impair conventional quantum bits, or qubits. Researchers battle this noise in conventional approaches by adding complex error-correction procedures to the hardware and using redundancy to detect and fix faults.

Ayala proposed a passive path integrated into the system's architecture. Topological quantum computing encodes information in global properties that resist local disturbances, preventing errors rather than correcting them.

Topology Beyond Local Properties

Ayala described this “global” approach with a knot metaphor. Traditional quantum computers store information about local properties like a particle's spin orientation in space. An incorrect magnetic field nudging the particle erases the data.

On the other hand, topological data is like a string knot. Knots are global characteristics of string structure and cannot be unraveled by gently pulling at a small section. Topology studies qualities that do not change under smooth, local changes. If a disturbance doesn't “cut” or “re-tie” the quantum system's connection, the data is unaffected.

Two-Dimensional Breakthrough: Anyons

Ayala spent a lot of time explaining why two-dimensional systems are the “magic” setting for this technology. Our familiar three-dimensional environment has bosons and fermions. The wavefunction of two bosons is the same when their locations are switched, while fermions have a negative sign.

Physics differs in two dimensions. Two-dimensional anyons are more mobile than other particles. Not always being able to twist these pathways into each other creates new particle statistics. Ayala focused on non-Abelian anyons, where particle exchanges influence the final quantum state. Topological computing relies on mathematical “non-commutativity”.

Computation by Braiding

The lecture's biggest takeaway was braiding. Topological quantum computers compute by physically wrapping anyons around each other in spacetime rather than directing laser pulses.

Every “braid” has a logic gate. The computation's output depends only on the braid's topology, not the particles' specific, wobbly journey, making it impervious to local defects. Ayala noted that the calculation is the geometry of these spacetime worldlines.

Long Road to Physical Realization

Even while the theoretical “Fibonacci anyon model” shows that these devices can do any quantum calculation, actual reality remains difficult. Ayala, who acknowledged the experimental limitations, said these systems require “ultra-clean” materials, intense temperature control, and unique quasiparticles. Candidates include topological superconductors and fractional quantum Hall systems, which are notoriously difficult to develop and maintain.

Ayala said in a Q&A that topology is not a “silver bullet” that will eliminate all error correction. It protects against local noise but cannot prevent system setup errors. Instead, hybrid approaches with conventional methods handling the rest and topological protection managing the most delicate tasks are likely.

The Growing Impact of QCORE

The presentation takes place when MSU's QCORE grows quickly. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) awarded the university a $31.5 million contract to expand quantum test beds and research capabilities. Montana just created a quantum entanglement network utilizing Qunnect's Carina suite, solidifying its role in the quantum ecosystem.

QED C: Global Quantum Industry Support via Strategic Partnerships and Innovation

Overview

Quantum Economic Development Consortium is a well-known multinational organization that promotes commercial quantum technology. The SRI-led group fosters global cooperation among dozens of nations to strengthen the sector's supply chain and real-world applications. Members have access to funding opportunities, technical research, and networking events. Multiple technical advisory groups help the consortium standardize and expand its personnel. Their digital platform connects partners and providers with a quantum marketplace while protecting data. Overall, the organization accelerates quantum economy development and expansion.

A Foundation for Industry-Driven Progress

QED-C's Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) drive cooperation and progress. Members can work with “like-minded quantum champions” on these committees to address the field's most pressing structural and technical concerns. The consortium has six TACs:

Enabling technologies focus on hardware and software needed to build quantum systems.

Law and policy address the legal and regulatory mechanisms needed for a global quantum market.

Quantum for National Security (Q4NS): Examines quantum technology's security and defense effects.

Performance Metrics & Standards: Provides industry progress metrics and a standards database including App-Oriented Benchmarks and common benchmarks. Commercialization and Use Cases: Dedicated to finding and developing quantum technology-based commercial applications in various fields.

Workforce: Building a talent pool to sustain sector growth.

M. Kahn of Kyocera and C. Dukatz of Accenture work on these committees to advance the quantum ecosystem.

Enabling Businesses with Quantum Marketplace

One of the consortium's most noteworthy assets is the Quantum Marketplace, which connects technological partners and suppliers. The marketplace features a comprehensive directory and periodic lectures on skills, technology, and people. QED C's Quantum Business Edge gives expanding enterprises new tools to navigate the quantum economy.

QED-C helps its members overcome financial challenges and connect to the market by finding financing for quantum-related projects. Membership benefits include a comprehensive standards database, a private forum, and exclusive discounts and incentives.

Developing Future Talent

Because a well-trained workforce is crucial to industry success, QED C prioritizes staff development. The consortium runs a Talent Showcase and Quantum Jobs board to connect employers with emerging expertise. D. Baxter of Indiana University says QED-C has helped educational institutions “identify and keeping abreast of recent developments in workforce development funding opportunities.”

Current and Future Trends

To educate its members, the consortium creates valuable information. The weekly contained a new member-only Frequency Combs report for February 9, 2026. The industry is preparing for the April 14–15, 2026 Quantum Summit, a global networking and strategic event.

Its Been There Done That Podcast, Qubits & Pieces Blog, and annual “State of the Global Quantum Industry” report contribute to QED-C's thought leadership.

Transparency and Data Quality

QED-C's open internet presence reflects the sector's high standards. An innovative cookie management system improves service delivery and user privacy on the consortium's website. Preference cookies store user settings, Statistics cookies collect anonymous data, and Functional cookies are only needed for communication. The consortium's "Law & Policy" commitment includes using marketing cookies for user profiling, and users have express consent options.

The Leadership and Membership

This science article describes a quantum optics breakthrough that distinguishes source radiation from vacuum fluctuations. Due to their unique causes, the researchers employed ultrafast laser pulses and nonlinear crystals to isolate these two phenomena, which were previously thought to be difficult to isolate in a lab. The scientists used phase-sensitive detection to show that certain radiation types correlate to certain light pulse quadratures, proving the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. These findings enable experiments on curved-space analogues, complex quantum processes, and entanglement harvesting. By making a long-standing thought experiment quantitative, we learn more about electromagnetic field-matter interactions.

Scientists Separate Quantum Coin Sides

Scientists at ETH Zürich have successfully detected and separated source radiation and vacuum fluctuations, a groundbreaking experiment in physics. In Nature Communications, the time-domain fluctuation-dissipation theorem is empirically proved at the quantum level for the first time, solving a century-old theoretical problem. A new doorway into sub-microscopic quantum electrodynamics was opened by the group using nonlinear crystals and ultrafast optics. This affects our understanding of black holes, the early cosmos, and quantum information.

The Empty Vacuum Mystery

To grasp this discovery's significance, define “empty” space. A vacuum is nothing in classical physics. Even at absolute zero, electromagnetic fields vary, and the vacuum is a sea of activity, according to quantum theory. Casimir effect, an attractive attraction between two uncharged metal surfaces, and Lamb shift, a minute energy change in an atom, are two well-known vacuum fluctuations-induced scientific phenomena.

Source radiation, or radiation response, happens with these changes. When an atom interacts with its radiative field, it "feels" its presence in the quantum field. Physicists have struggled to distinguish these effects for decades. The "two sides of the same quantum mechanical coin" were scientifically independent but empirically intertwined since they generally occur simultaneously and produce similar outcomes.

Relaunching Fermi's Thought Experiment

Fermi's 1932 Gedankenexperiment (thinking experiment) on the two-atom problem laid the groundwork for this finding. Fermi spotted two atoms in a vacuum—what if one “switched on” at any time?

Quantum theory describes two atom correlations. Initially, they may instantly interact with the surrounding field's vacuum oscillations over space. Second, a photon from one atom can reach the other at light speed. Despite its substantial discoveries, this thought experiment was impossible with actual atoms because to the difficulty of turning atomic interactions on and off quickly enough to see the time difference.

All-Optical Solution

Jérôme Faist and Alexa Herter led the ETH Zürich team in creating an all-optical duplicate of Fermi's setup to overcome these challenges. Instead of atoms, they used a zinc-telluride (ZnTe) nonlinear crystal and two ultra-short laser pulses.

The experiment was done in a cryostat frozen to 4 Kelvin to reduce thermal noise and ensure that only quantum signals were detected. Researchers were able to precisely “switch” the interaction on and off with pulses of 110 fs (quadrillionths of a second) and see causal effects.

The experiment was excellent because of phase-sensitive detection. Different laser pulse "quadratures" matched source radiation and vacuum fluctuations. They could switch between quarter-wave and half-wave plates in their detecting system to alter sensors to listen to source radiation or vacuum fluctuations separately.

Checking Fundamental Laws

Results stunningly confirmed quantum theory. When sensors were designed to detect vacuum fluctuations, correlations showed up symmetrically around zero-time delay to indicate their non-local, instantaneous nature. When set to source radiation, this radiation must follow causality rules and spread at a specific rate because the signal became asymmetric and only appeared at a certain time.

The results showed that the fluctuation-dissipation theorem may be experimentally validated. This fundamental law of physics states that a system's fluctuations (the vacuum's “noise”) are directly connected with their source radiation-induced dissipation (the “drag”). Source radiation signal was a Hilbert transform, or perfect mathematical reflection, of vacuum fluctuation signal, researchers found.

Black Holes to Quantum Computers: Why It Matters Distinguishing these two forces improves theoretical clarity and opens up new research avenues:

Scientists plan to “mine” the vacuum for quantum entanglement, needed for ultra-secure communication and quantum computers. This experiment shows that we can distinguish “harvested” entanglement from radiation exchange entanglement.

Curved Spacetime Analogies: The experimental setup can replicate an expanding cosmos or black hole event horizon conditions. Researchers could study Hawking radiation in a lab.

Quantum Information: Understanding the sub-picosecond periods during which information travels through the quantum vacuum will help scientists build noise-resistant quantum systems.

Vacuum fluctuations

In empty space, quantum physics causes vacuum fluctuations, tiny, unpredictable energy changes.

A plain explanation

A vacuum is a true empty space in classical physics.

Lancaster Physics Joins €3 Million European Initiative to Revolutionize Quantum Computing Hardware

Lancaster University News

Lancaster University is a significant partner in a €3 million European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder initiative. The “Superconducting Integrated Circuits for Scalable Quantum Systems” (Super ICQ) initiative aims to reduce technological barriers to quantum computer commercialization and industrialization.

The Lancaster University team led by Dr. Michael Thompson and Professors Jonathan Prance and Yuri Pashkin received a €650,000 special grant to create ultra-low-power electronics. This financing invests heavily on “visionary science” to create “breakthrough innovation” in cryogenic electronics.

The Search for “Quantum Systems on a Chip”

This research fundamentally rethinks quantum technology design. Qubits, the “brains” of a quantum computer, require massive, complex support systems. Lancaster is leading the research to demonstrate ultra-low-power circuits that can interface, readout, and control superconducting quantum computers.

The group hopes to reach “future quantum systems on a chip,” which would scale and integrate quantum computing from huge, lab-scale activities, by shrinking these devices.

Outgrowing the “Josephson Junction” Limit

This undertaking must be understood in terms of Josephson junctions (JJs), the current building blocks of quantum electronics. These ingredients have long underpinned classical and quantum cryogenic electronics. The fact that traditional JJs use magnetic flux control or electric current is a major engineering problem.

That transistor voltage control, which drives the semiconductor industry, is much more practical than this approach. Laptops and cellphones use field-effect transistors, which work efficiently with tiny voltage signals. Super ICQ aims to achieve quantum efficiency using Josephson field-effect transistors (JoFETs).

New Era: Graphene to 200 mm Wafers

Since the 1980s, JoFET “proof-of-concept” versions have been published in various materials, but the technology has failed to reach the integrated circuit (IC) level. Lancaster University and collaborators believe a new scalable graphene-based JoFET fabrication process may solve the problem.

The Super ICQ collaboration wants to use graphene to make a 200 mm wafer platform. Development of “truly scalable” superconducting integrated circuits hinges on this. The researchers will build key elements of this platform, including:

Quantum-limited parametric amps

Filters on chip

Ultra-sensitive microwave bolometers Resonators with tuning voltage

Multi-module control and readout.

By controlling and reading out cutting-edge superconducting qubits, these modules will validate the new JoFET integrated circuits.

Global Competition and EIC Pathfinder

Lancaster's expanding international research status is shown by the team's funding. Over 2,000 ideas from 71 countries were submitted for the EIC Pathfinder prizes, a record.

Only 44 projects were funded from this massive application pool. Thus, the Super ICQ project joins the top 2% of creative ventures worldwide.

Lancaster University researchers will receive funding, networking, coaching, and mentorship from EIC Business Acceleration Services. This ensures that scientific vision is immediately implemented, especially in high-stakes domains like HPC and AI.

Overall Impact: AI and More

This discovery has far-reaching implications beyond physics. Scalable, gated Josephson junctions are expected to “kick off a new era” in computing. As artificial intelligence and high-performance computing demand more power and processing speed, JoFET technology's fast and low-power capabilities could constitute the hardware foundation for future supercomputers.

Palm Beach State College

Palm Beach State College (PBSC) received $4.95 million from Governor Ron DeSantis to build the state's first organized, publicly available Quantum Systems Certification Program, putting Florida at the forefront of the next technological frontier. The Florida Job Growth Fund grant intends to bridge the gap between quantum research and operational people needed to maintain a quantum-secure economy.

The program prepares professionals and students for high-impact jobs in cybersecurity, national defense, aerospace, and financial services, which are preparing for quantum technologies. Florida officials seek to create a “quantum ecosystem” that attracts high-tech enterprises and startups by prioritizing actual technology above theoretical physics.

The Future in Pieces

Unlike traditional multi-year degree programs, the PBSC curriculum will start with eight-week modules. This architecture was designed to allow current workers to improve their abilities while keeping their jobs, making the technology more accessible.

The program will focus on data systems, secure communications, and post-quantum cybersecurity in practice. During the announcement, Governor DeSantis said the investments will support high-demand regional and statewide requirements, including talent development in regions supporting high-impact industries that correspond with many of Florida's biggest pillars of investment. Over the next decade, the college expects 970 enrollments and 570 graduates, supplying talent for California's tech sector.

Filling the “Timing Gap”

This program shows states' strategic technology development changes. Florida is preparing for the delayed adoption of quantum-resistant standards and hybrid computing systems rather than large, fault-tolerant quantum computers.

Matt Cimaglia, Founder and Managing Partner of Quantum Coast Capital, says every major technical development faces two gaps: talent and timing. “Training a workforce in quantum-era security and computing today ensures our economy adapts smoothly rather than reactively,” Cimaglia said.

This proactive policy addresses the urgent demand for expertise in modern communications networks and post-quantum cryptography, which are vital to economic growth and national security.

Institute for Quantum Innovation

This project focuses on establishing the Quantum Innovation Center in a downtown West Palm Beach building approximately 100 years old. The building is being rebuilt to house cutting-edge tech companies.

The school-incubator attracts new and existing security and advanced computing companies. “By pairing workforce training with an innovation hub we are creating both the talent pipeline and the environment needed for companies to start and scale here,” said Business Development Board of Palm Beach County President and CEO Kelly Smallridge. This partnership ensures graduates have immediate access to high-tech employers.

Integrated Economic Approach

The Governor's office announced a $8 million statewide investment, with 4.95 million going to PBSC. Broward College received almost $900,000, and Melbourne Orlando International Airport received $2.5 million for aviation staff.

Since 2019, the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund has invested $305 million in workforce education and public infrastructure, creating nearly 41,000 employment and 32,000 training opportunities, according to state officials. A fund that contains quantum technology shows that Florida now considers the “operational phase” of quantum technology crucial to its economic strategy.

Palm Beach State College president Ava L. Parker, JD, thanked the state for trusting the college. She emphasized that the program will make “this emerging technology accessible to our students and local community,” solidifying the college's workforce education leadership.

Researchers Stabilize ‘Heat-Prone’ Systems on 78-Qubit Quantum Processor

Chuang 2.0

An multinational research team has proved a way to lessen the ‘heat death’ that damages many-body quantum systems, a major quantum information science success. Using a Chuang-tzu 2.0 78-qubit superconducting processor, researchers found long-lived “prethermal” phases in structured random protocol systems. This study indicates a new level of control over non-equilibrium matter and may indicate a “quantum advantage” in modeling complex many-body dynamics that top classical computers cannot handle.

The Quantum Heating Challenge

For years, physicists have tried to use time-dependent drives to create exotic matter states like discrete-time crystals and Floquet topological matter. These systems are naturally vulnerable. They heat up because they don't conserve energy. The system absorbs energy from the drive until it reaches a featureless, infinite-temperature state.

High-frequency drives or spatial disorder can prevent this heating in periodic (Floquet) systems. However, non-periodically driven systems, especially those with temporal randomness, are notoriously hard to stabilize. Randomness creates ‘deleterious energy absorption channels’ that heat the system quickly.

New Chuang-tzu 2.0 with RMD

The researchers solved the challenge with Chuang-tzu 2.0, a superconducting quantum processor with 78 qubits and 137 adjustable couplers in a 6-by-13 square lattice. The device was designed to simulate a two-dimensional hard-core Bose-Hubbard model where particles hop over a grid.

The team created Random Multipolar Driving (RMD) methods. RMD sequences use a ‘multipolar’ temporal correlation, unlike random drives, which heat quickly. The researchers greatly limited energy absorption by imposing a dipolar or higher-order multipolar arrangement.

The initial density-wave step involves staggered particle placement. When the drive was applied, the researchers monitored how long this sequence lasted before heat stopped it.

‘Doubly Tunable’ Prethermal Plateau

The experiment's key finding was a prethermal plateau, a rather stable stage before thermalization. Importantly, this plateau's longevity was ‘doubly tunable’.

The researchers found that prethermal longevity rises algebraically with driving frequency using a scaling exponent based on the multipolar order (n). In particular, longevity scales 2n+1. By increasing the complexity of the driving pattern (the multipolar order), scientists can exponentially extend a quantum system's useful, non-equilibrium phase.

The processor's stability and precise pulse calibration allowed the researchers to track the heating process for over 1,000 driving cycles. Floquet engineering synchronized time sequences between nearby qubits with nanosecond precision.

Exploring Quantum Entanglement

Quantum state tomography was used to recreate the system's "entanglement entropy," which measures how quantum information is spread between processor components, as well as particle velocity.

Entanglement was found to be spatially non-uniform in two dimensions. For instance, coherent particle exchange caused significant entanglement oscillations in the prethermal domain in some configurations. More importantly, when the system heated up, they saw a shift from “area-law” entanglement scaling, which is proportional to a region's border, to “volume-law” scaling, which is proportional to qubits.

A Quantum Advantage

Quantum advantage may be the paper's most important finding. The researchers used advanced classical algorithms like PEPS and GMPS to replicate this experiment.

These traditional approaches could capture the early stages of the experiment, but they couldn't keep up with the quick growth of entanglement when the system heated to infinite temperature. Traditional models showed large deviations from experimental data after a few drive cycles, while the Chuang-tzu 2.0 processor accurately duplicated the entire process.

Future View

The authors claim that this temperature control technology is universal and may be used to trapped ions or neutral atoms. Operating closed quantum systems with temporal unpredictability without heating allows engineering new non-equilibrium phases of matter.