The realization of a scalable quantum information processor has emerged over
the past decade as one of the central challenges at the interface of
fundamental science and engineering. Much progress has been made towards this
goal. Indeed, quantum operations have been demonstrated on several trapped ion
qubits, and other solid-state systems are approaching similar levels of
control. Extending these techniques to achieve fault-tolerant operations in
larger systems with more qubits remains an extremely challenging goal, in part,
due to the substantial technical complexity of current implementations. Here,
we propose and analyze an architecture for a scalable, solid-state quantum
information processor capable of operating at or near room temperature. The
architecture is applicable to realistic conditions, which include disorder and
relevant decoherence mechanisms, and includes a hierarchy of control at
successive length scales. Our approach is based upon recent experimental
advances involving Nitrogen-Vacancy color centers in diamond and will provide
fundamental insights into the physics of non-equilibrium many-body quantum
systems. Additionally, the proposed architecture may greatly alleviate the
stringent constraints, currently limiting the realization of scalable quantum
processors.
