https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210428133003.htm

"Quantum computing is still in its infancy, and one of the key challenges is reducing the error rate of the computations," said first author Yangmu Li, a postdoc in the Neutron Scattering Group of the Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science (CMPMS) Division at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory. "Errors arise as qubits, or quantum information bits, interact with their environment. However, unlike trapped ions or solid-state qubits such as point defects in diamond, topological superconducting qubits are intrinsically protected from part of the noise. Therefore, they could support computation less prone to errors. The question is, where can we find topological superconductivity?

In this study, the scientists narrowed the search in one compound known to host topological surface states and part of the family of iron-based superconductors. In this compound, topological and superconducting states are not distributed uniformly across the surface. Understanding what's behind these variations in electronic states and how to control them is key to enabling practical applications like topologically protected quantum computing.