Quantum computing: status and next challenges

by FABIO SCIARRINO (Dipartimento di fisica)

Tuesday 12 May 2026, 18:00 → 19:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Salvini (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati)

Quantum computing harnesses the law of quantum mechanics to perform information processing in ways unattainable by classical devices. This colloquium surveys the current state of quantum computing, discussing leading hardware platforms (superconducting qubits, trapped ions, neutral atoms, and photonics) and recent milestones in scale, coherence, and algorithmic benchmarks. I will highlight integrated quantum photonics - on‑chip sources, reconfigurable interferometers and detectors – discussing its advantages and engineering challenges for scalable processors. The talk also reviews algorithmic progress (quantum simulation, variational methods),  error‑mitigation and verification techniques, and key obstacles to fault tolerance: scalable connectivity, practical error correction, and robust quantum‑classical interfaces. Finally, I outline hardware‑software co‑design strategies and emerging hybrid architectures, offering an outlook on research priorities and opportunities for new contributors.

Sciarrino.pdf