In the realm of quantum computing, information storage differs significantly from classical computers. While classical computers store information in binary states, quantum computers can hold information in superpositions of quantum states defined by phase and amplitude.

However, on today's noisy intermediate-scale quantum computing (NISQ) systems, quantum states and their superpositions are vulnerable to environmental disturbances, leading to information loss and decreased performance. This disruption is quantified by the qubits' memory lifetime, dominated by two effects: spontaneous decay (T1 time) and information loss due to phase scrambling (T2 time). Ideally, both T1 and T2 times should exceed qubit manipulation time by a significant margin.

Learn more about the complexities of quantum memory lifetime in the full blog post.