50 POPULAR SCIENCE
Not a Chip
Behold the qubit,
the cold and elegant
heart of quantum
computing. This
25mm-long wafer is
made of synthetic
sapphire topped with a
100-nanometre-thin
layer of printed
aluminium. At insanely
low temperatures,
microwave photons
send the junction point
of the Y into super-
position. The wavy
strips below transmit
the qubit’s results.