Superconducting qubits can now be prepared and measured in 10 nanoseconds without microwaves.

Quantum computers rely on superconducting qubitssuperconducting qubitsQuantum bits made from superconducting circuits that operate at extremely low temperatures., which are tiny circuits that hold information. Setting up these qubits and reading their data usually requires finely tuned microwave signalsmicrowave signalsHigh-frequency electromagnetic waves used to control and measure qubits in traditional methods. and takes about ~100 ns. These slow steps limit performance and make scaling up difficult. To solve this, researchers developed new methods to prepare and read superconducting qubits without using microwaves. Their approach does not rely on microwave pulses, allowing the system to run while still protecting qubit coherence, which is the fragile quantum state of the system. They achieved greater than 99% fidelityfidelityA measure of how accurately a quantum operation is performed, often expressed as a percentage., or accuracy, for both preparation and readout in just 10 ns per task. These methods also connect directly to scalable superconducting digital control systems.

Why it matters

This removes a major obstacle to building practical quantum computers. Engineers can design simpler, faster control systems without needing precise microwave signals, making scalability more achievable.

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