IBM’s modular system cools quantum processors below 15 millikelvin

IBM’s modular cryogenic system cools a quantum processor below 15 millikelvin, making it more than 180 times colder than deep space. Such extreme cooling helps protect qubits from heat, which can disrupt their fragile states and make calculations less reliable.

Unlike ordinary bits, qubits can represent multiple values and become linked, allowing quantum algorithms to work through possibilities in distinctive ways. IBM’s dilution refrigerator uses progressively colder metal plates, but control wires carry heat towards the processor, making larger systems harder to cool. Other approaches include neutral-atom computers, which use lasers in a vacuum chamber, and photonic machines, whose single-photon detectors may still need cooling.