Israeli startup Qedma tackles quantum computing’s biggest weakness

Quantum computers promise to one day solve problems that conventional computers could struggle with for years. But there is a fundamental obstacle standing in the way: they make mistakes.

Qubits, the basic units of information in a quantum computer, are extremely sensitive to even tiny disturbances from their surroundings. As calculations become longer and more complex, errors accumulate and can eventually obscure the result.

The story began in 2020, almost by chance. Prof. Netanel Lindner of the Technion’s Faculty of Physics, whose research includes the physics of quantum computing, was having lunch with Dr. Asif Sinay, a physicist, graduate of Israel’s elite Talpiot program and holder of a master’s degree from the Technion.

The two were discussing one of the field’s biggest challenges when Lindner raised an idea: If every quantum computer has its own distinctive “fingerprint” of noise and errors, perhaps that fingerprint could be learned — and the computation adapted accordingly.