But many challenges must be addressed before these ultrafast machines become available, among them, the loss of order in the systems—a problem known as quantum decoherence—which worsens as the number of bits in a quantum computer increases.

One proposed solution is to divide the computing among multiple small quantum computers that would work together much as today’s multicore supercomputers team up to tackle big digital operations. The individual computers in such a system could communicate quantum information using Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs)—clouds of ultracold atoms that all exist in exactly the same quantum state. The approach could address the decoherence problem by reducing the number of bits necessary for a single computer.