Physicists at the University of Sydney have achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing by creating a universal logic gate inside a single atom.
Using a powerful error-correcting system known as the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) code — often called the “Rosetta Stone” of quantum computing — they managed to entangle vibrations of a trapped ion. This achievement drastically reduces the number of physical qubits needed, tackling one of the biggest hurdles in scaling quantum computers and bringing practical, large-scale quantum machines closer to reality.
Battling Quantum Errors at Scale
Building a large, reliable quantum computer is one of science’s toughest challenges. The main obstacle is the random errors that occur when quantum bits, or qubits, perform their operations.
To make progress, researchers have developed ways of encoding qubits so that some can be used to detect and correct errors in others. This allows a smaller group of qubits to function correctly and deliver meaningful results.
However, the more logical qubits are added, the more physical qubits are needed to support them. The requirements grow so quickly that scaling up to a truly useful quantum computer turns into a massive engineering nightmare.
Breakthrough at the University of Sydney
Researchers at the Quantum Control Laboratory within the University of Sydney Nano Institute have now taken a major step forward. For the first time, they have demonstrated a kind of quantum logic gate that requires far fewer physical qubits to function.
Their approach involved constructing an entangling logic gate inside a single atom, using an advanced error-correcting code often described as the “Rosetta stone” of quantum computing. This code has earned its nickname because it converts smooth, continuous quantum oscillations into discrete, digital-like states. That translation makes it easier to spot and correct mistakes, while also providing a compact and efficient way to encode logical qubits.
GKP Codes: A Rosetta Stone for Quantum Computing
This curiously named Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) code has for many years offered a theoretical possibility for significantly reducing the physical number of qubits needed to produce a functioning ‘logical qubit’. Albeit by trading efficiency for complexity, making the codes very difficult to control.
Research published today in Nature Physics demonstrates this as a physical reality, tapping into the natural oscillations of a trapped ion (a charged atom of ytterbium) to store GKP codes and, for the first time, realising quantum entangling gates between them.
Led by Sydney Horizon Fellow Dr. Tingrei Tan at the University of Sydney Nano Institute, scientists have used their exquisite control over the harmonic motion of a trapped ion to bridge the coding complexity of GKP qubits, allowing a demonstration of their entanglement.
“Our experiments have shown the first realisation of a universal logical gate set for GKP qubits,” Dr. Tan said. “We did this by precisely controlling the natural vibrations, or harmonic oscillations, of a trapped ion in such a way that we can manipulate individual GKP qubits or entangle them as a pair.”
Quantum Logic Gate and Software Innovation
A logic gate is an information switch that allows computers – quantum and classical – to be programmable to perform logical operations. Quantum logic gates use the entanglement of qubits to produce a completely different sort of operational system to that used in classical computing, underpinning the great promise of quantum computers.
First author Vassili Matsos is a PhD student in the School of Physics and Sydney Nano. He said: “Effectively, we store two error-correctable logical qubits in a single trapped ion and demonstrate entanglement between them.
“We did this using quantum control software developed by Q-CTRL, a spin-off start-up company from the Quantum Control Laboratory, with a physics-based model to design quantum gates that minimise the distortion of GKP logical qubits, so they maintain the delicate structure of the GKP code while processing quantum information.”
A Milestone in Quantum Technology
What Mr Matsos did is entangle two ‘quantum vibrations’ of a single atom. The trapped atom vibrates in three dimensions. Movement in each dimension is described by quantum mechanics and each is considered a ‘quantum state’. By entangling two of these quantum states realised as qubits, Mr Matsos created a logic gate using just a single atom, a milestone in quantum technology.
This result massively reduces the quantum hardware required to create these logic gates, which allow quantum machines to be programmed.
Dr. Tan said, “GKP error correction codes have long promised a reduction in hardware demands to address the resource overhead challenge for scaling quantum computers. Our experiments achieved a key milestone, demonstrating that these high-quality quantum controls provide a key tool to manipulate more than just one logical qubit.
“By demonstrating universal quantum gates using these qubits, we have a foundation to work towards large-scale quantum-information processing in a highly hardware-efficient fashion.”
Towards Scalable, Efficient Quantum Machines
Across three experiments described in the paper, Dr. Tan’s team used a single ytterbium ion contained in what is known as a Paul trap. This uses a complex array of lasers at room temperature to hold the single atom in the trap, allowing its natural vibrations to be controlled and utilised to produce the complex GKP codes.
This research represents an important demonstration that quantum logic gates can be developed with a reduced physical number of qubits, increasing their efficiency.
Reference: “Universal quantum gate set for Gottesman–Kitaev–Preskill logical qubits” by V. G. Matsos, C. H. Valahu, M. J. Millican, T. Navickas, X. C. Kolesnikow, M. J. Biercuk and T. R. Tan, 21 August 2025, Nature Physics.
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03002-8
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3 Comments
This research represents an important demonstration that quantum logic gates can be developed with a reduced physical number of qubits, increasing their efficiency.
VERY GOOD.
Ask the researcher:
How do you understand quantum materials and topological materials?
Topology provides stability blueprints, but specific physics (spatial features, gravitational collapse, fluid viscosity, quantum measurement) dictates vortex generation, evolution, and decay.
With advancements in experimental techniques and theoretical frameworks, Topological Vortex Theory (TVT) is expected to become an important paradigm for explaining complex physical phenomena by around 2030, bringing revolutionary breakthroughs to next-generation information technologies and energy materials. As a rapidly developing interdisciplinary field, future research in TVT will exhibit three major trends: precision in fundamental theories, intelligent material design, and diversified technological applications.
If researchers are interested, please browse https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/1942195688579510790, https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/1933484562941457487 and https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/1925124100134790589 (If the link is available).
Ask the researchers again:
Where does the quantum come from? Is the quantum created by God?
An entire generation has been severely misled, poisoned and fooled by so-called peer-reviewed publications. In today’s physics, the so-called peer-reviewed journals—including Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, and others—stubbornly insist on and promote the following:
1. Even though θ and τ particles exhibit differences in experiments, physics can claim they are the same particle. This is science.
2. Even though topological vortices and antivortices have identical structures and opposite rotational directions, physics can define their structures and directions as entirely different. This is science.
3. Even though two sets of cobalt-60 rotate in opposite directions and experiments reveal asymmetry, physics can still define them as mirror images of each other. This is science.
4. Even though vortex structures are ubiquitous—from cosmic accretion disks to particle spins—physics must insist that vortex structures do not exist and require verification. Only the particles that like God, Demonic, or Angelic are the most fundamental structures of the universe. This is science.
5. Even though everything occupies space and maintains its existence in time, physics must still debate and insist on whether space exists and whether time is a figment of the human mind. This is science.
6. Even though space, with its non-stick, incompressible, and isotropic characteristics, provides a solid foundation for the development of physics, physics must still insist that the ideal fluid properties of space do not exist. This is science.
And so on.
The so-called peer-reviewed journals—including Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, and others openly define differences as sameness, sameness as differences, existence as nonexistence, and nonexistence as existence—all while deceiving and fooling the public with so-called “impact factors (IF),” never knowing what shame is.
The universe is not a God, nor is it merely Particles. Moreover, it is not Algebra, Formulas, or Fractions. The universe is the superposition, deflection, entanglement, and locking of geometric shape, the interaction and balance of self-organization for the spacetime vortices and their fractal structures. Topological invariants are the identical intrinsic properties between two isomorphic topological spacetimes. Different civilizations may create distinct mathematical codes or tools to describe the universality and specificity of these topological invariants under different physical laws.
Topology provides stability blueprints, but specific physics (spatial features, gravitational collapse, fluid viscosity, quantum measurement) dictates vortex generation, evolution, and decay. If researchers are interested in this, please visit https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/1933828835322856603.
1. What aer the quantum logic gates?
2. Where does quantum come from?
3. Where does the singularity come from?
4. Where does the energy of the singularity explosion come from?
5. Isn’t space everywhere?
6. Where do things in space come from?
7. Why does physics today ignore the ubiquity of space and instead search for imaginary God particles everywhere?
8. Isn’t space a physical entity?
9.As a physical entity, what physical properties should space possess?
10. If the space does not have physical entity properties, please inform the public where the physics experiment was conducted?
Some so-called peer-reviewed publications in physics today have misled and fooled an entire generation with their own filth and ugliness.