Learn the key differences between quantum and classical computing, including how they work, where each excels, and why they will coexist.

Developing high-performance deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) requires the emitters to achieve a good balance among emission color, exciton utilization efficiency, and photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) in solid films. Herein, we report a new deep-blue emissive building block, abbreviated as PADP.

A wire-sharing protocol can minimize the number of wires in a quantum processor without significantly reducing speed, a new theoretical study shows.

As quantum computers continue to grow in size, one of the bottlenecks is the number of control wires that need to be connected to the quantum bits (qubits). A new theoretical study explores so-called time multiplexing, where one wire controls several qubits [1]. The researchers found that although this strategy requires extra processing time, the delays are less than expected, in part because control signals can be scheduled when certain qubits are busy with computations. The results could spur development of the electronic switches needed for time multiplexing in superconducting quantum computers.

Many state-of-the-art quantum computers consist of 100 or more superconducting qubits that operate inside dilution refrigerators at temperatures near absolute zero. Photos of these devices often show a tall, shiny column filled with dozens and dozens of connected wires—which might be mistaken for the qubits. Instead, these wires carry microwave signals from the room-temperature electronics that control the quantum processors to the micrometer-sized qubits inside the cryogenic refrigerator. The number of control wires can limit increases in the sizes of quantum computers. “You would like to have one wire going down to each qubit,” says Anton Frisk Kockum from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. “But that takes up a lot of space and brings heat into the fridge.”

For the last 80 years, the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED), which describes all electromagnetic interactions, has been a cornerstone of the standard model, withstanding the scrutiny of countless experiments and agreeing with observations down to the smallest known precisions. Yet, some high-intensity scales of QED remain unexplored, prompting some to wonder if quantum computers could deal with these scales’ inherent complexity.

Physicists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are now testing quantum simulations of these so-called strong-field QED (SFQED) processes, recently translating several processes into the language of quantum computing. Their latest work introduces an innovative method for simulating an SFQED process known as polarization flip on a quantum computer, setting a new benchmark for quantum simulations of high-energy phenomena. The research was published in Physical Review D on March 9, 2026.

A major obstacle in the development of powerful quantum computers is the growing number of cables required to control a computer as the number of qubits increases. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now demonstrated that several qubits can share the same cable—without significantly increasing computation time. Their study is the most comprehensive of its kind and could become an important piece of the puzzle in developing quantum computers. These computers have the potential to revolutionize such areas as drug development and logistics.

The power of quantum computers lies in what are known as “qubits.” Unlike a conventional computer “bit,” which can have the value 1 or 0, a qubit can have the values 1 and 0 simultaneously—and all states in between, in any combination. This means a quantum computer with 20 qubits can simultaneously represent a combination of more than one million different states, resulting in enormous computational power.

“The global quantum technology race is in full swing, with tech giants currently in the lead with quantum computers based on more than 100 qubits. But to solve real-world societal challenges, quantum computers will need grow much further in size, with thousands or more well-functioning qubits,” says Anton Frisk Kockum, Associate Professor of Applied Quantum Physics at Chalmers University of Technology. At Chalmers, researchers have been developing Sweden’s largest quantum computer within the Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology.

Beginning in the 1950s, silicon transformed the electronics industry by enabling smaller and faster devices that could be reliably manufactured at scale. More than six decades later, silicon-based semiconductors remain at the heart of many modern technologies, including so-called “classical” computers.

In pursuit of new quantum technologies, scientists and engineers have turned to specialized materials for building qubits—the fundamental components of quantum systems. For example, many qubits are made from superconducting materials deposited on sapphire substrates. But transitioning from laboratory demonstrations to scalable systems will require scientific and manufacturing infrastructure capable of supporting robust and reliable qubit fabrication.

Marking a milestone toward bridging that gap, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have built superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) using a silicon-compatible class of materials called transition metal silicides. The research was conducted as part of the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA), a recently renewed National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Brookhaven Lab.