Australian researchers have designed a new type of qubit – the building block of quantum computers – that they say will finally make it possible to manufacture a true, large-scale quantum computer.

Broadly speaking, there are currently a number of ways to make a quantum computer. Some take up less space, but tend to be incredibly complex. Others are simpler, but if you want it to scale up you’re going to need to knock down a few walls.

Thanks to coding information in both the nucleus and electron of an atom, the new silicon qubit, which is being called a ‘flip-flop qubit’, can be controlled by electric signals, instead of magnetic ones. That means it can maintain quantum entanglement across a larger distance than ever before, making it cheaper and easier to build into a scalable computer.