Four decades ago, physicists were theorizing that the mind-bending mechanics of quantum physics could be harnessed to make a new kind of computer that’s exponentially more powerful than conventional machines.

The approach is known for high accuracy, but scaling it up while preserving that accuracy is technically difficult. Helios uses barium ions in what is called a quantum charge-coupled device, or QCCD, architecture. A useful way to picture it is as a tiny quantum railway.

This article is part of a package on the future of quantum computing. Read about the most promising applications of these machines here and see an illustrated field guide to qubits here. Inside a low-slung building in an office park near the southeastern edge of the San Francisco Bay,

Computing firm Quantinuum has provided the hardware for many outstanding feats in quantum computing over the past few years. It looks like that winning streak will continue with its latest model, Helios—which, as of today, is the most powerful quantum ...

Building a utility-scale quantum computer that can crack one of the most vital cryptosystems—elliptic curves—doesn’t require nearly the resources anticipated just a year or two ago, two independently written whitepapers have concluded. In one ...

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson is directing $500,000 from a state economic development fund to support the expansion of IonQ’s manufacturing facility for quantum computing hardware in Bothell, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Leaders of the Pacific ...

The US government has launched an on-premises quantum computer in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) today launched Pathfinder, the first commercially procured quantum computer at ORNL.