Paik Leads Quantum Computing Push with Powerful Machines and Practical Applications

Hanhee Paik, an alum of the University of Maryland, played a crucial role in developing IBM's first 16-qubit quantum computer in 2017. This breakthrough was a significant milestone in the field, marking the first time a superconducting processor exceeded 10 qubits.

Paik's work on the transmon qubit, a widely adopted design by numerous quantum computing companies, improved coherence times by a factor of 100 during her postdoctoral research at Yale University. She identified energy loss at surfaces and interfaces as a major contributor to rapid decoherence in early transmons.

Paik engineered a new architecture that minimized this effect by strategically altering energy storage locations within the qubit, directly addressing a central challenge limiting the potential of quantum computation. The resulting qubit design remains the standard for major companies like IBM.