Quantum breakthrough could revolutionise computing - BBC

Image caption, Twenty years ago Winfried Hensinger was told by other scientists that developing a powerful quantum computer was impossible.

But, according to Prof Winfried Hensinger, who led the research at Sussex University, the new development paves the way for systems that can solve complex real world problems that the best computers we have today are incapable of.

"What we have achieved here is the ability to realise extremely powerful quantum computers capable of solving some of the most important problems for industries and society."

Image caption, The quantum computer chips have to be set up in a clean room an put into a vacuum container as even the slightest contamination can reduce its performance

Prof Michael Cuthbert, who is the director of the newly established National Quantum Computing Centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire and is independent of the Sussex research group described the development as a "really important enabling step".

Image caption, Quantum computers harness two weird properties of particles at the very small scale - they can be in two places at the same time and be strangely connected even though they are millions of miles apart.