Magnons could shrink quantum computers down to the size of a penny

[Mike]

Researchers have turned magnons, which are tiny magnetic spin waves that were previously considered too short lived to be practically useful, into promising carriers of quantum information by extending their lifetime by nearly 100 times

That lifetime extension is the whole story here, magnons decaying almost instantly is exactly why they were sidelined as a serious qubit candidate for years, if you can keep the wave coherent nearly 100 times longer the entire calculus around using them changes

The size implication is what makes this genuinely exciting beyond the pure physics interest, magnon based quantum information carriers could in principle allow quantum computing hardware at a scale closer to a coin rather than the room sized dilution refrigerators that dominate most current approaches

Miniaturization has been one of the persistent bottlenecks for quantum computing adoption outside specialized labs, the cooling and shielding infrastructure required for most qubit types is a huge part of why this technology has stayed confined to research institutions and a handful of well funded companies

It is still very early stage research rather than a working chip you could buy, but a nearly 100 fold coherence improvement in a previously written off physical system is the kind of result that tends to redirect where research funding flows next

Tiny magnetic waves could unlock quantum computers the size of a pennywww.sciencedaily.com