A topological quantum computer is a type of quantum computer. It utilizes anyons, a type of quasiparticle that occurs in two-dimensional systems. The anyons' world lines intertwine to form braids in a three-dimensional spacetime (one temporal and two spatial dimensions). The braids act as the logic gates of the computer. The primary advantage of using quantum braids over trapped quantum particles is in their stability. While small but cumulative perturbations can cause quantum states to decohere and introduce errors in traditional quantum computations, such perturbations do not alter the topological properties of the braids. This stability is akin to the difference between cutting and reattaching a string to form a different braid versus a ball (representing an ordinary quantum particle in four-dimensional spacetime) colliding with a wall. It was proposed by Russian-American physicist Alexei Kitaev in 1997.

While the elements of a topological quantum computer originate in a purely mathematical realm, experiments in fractional quantum Hall systems indicate that these elements may be created in the real world by using semiconductors made of gallium arsenide at a temperature of nearly absolute zero and subject to strong magnetic fields.

Anyons are quasiparticles in a two-dimensional space. Anyons are neither fermions nor bosons, but like fermions, they cannot occupy the same state. Thus, the world lines of two anyons cannot intersect or merge, which allows their paths to form stable braids in space-time.^{[citation needed]} Anyons can form from excitations in a cold two-dimensional electron gas in a very strong magnetic field and carry fractional units of magnetic flux. This phenomenon is called the fractional quantum Hall effect. In typical laboratory systems, the electron gas occupies a thin semiconducting layer sandwiched between layers of aluminum gallium arsenide.

When anyons are braided, the transformation of the quantum state of the system depends only on the topological class of the anyons' trajectories (which are classified according to the braid group). Therefore, the quantum information which is stored in the state of the system is impervious to small errors in the trajectories. In 2005, Sankar Das Sarma, Michael Freedman, and Chetan Nayak proposed a quantum Hall device that would realize a topological qubit. In 2005 Vladimir J. Goldman, Fernando E. Camino, and Wei Zhou claimed to have created and observed the first experimental evidence for using a fractional quantum Hall effect to create actual anyons, although others have suggested their results could be the product of phenomena not involving anyons. Non-abelian anyons, a species required for topological quantum computers, have yet to be experimentally confirmed. Possible experimental evidence has been found, but the conclusions remain contested. In 2018, scientists again claimed to have isolated the required Majorana particles, but the finding was retracted in 2021. Quanta Magazine stated in 2021 that "no one has convincingly shown the existence of even a single (Majorana zero-mode) quasiparticle", although in 2023 a new article by the magazine has covered some preprints by Google and Quantinuum claiming the realization of non-abelian anyons on quantum processors, the first used a toric code with twist defects as a topological degeneracy (or topological defect) while the second used a different but related protocol both of which can be understood as Majorana bound states in quantum error correction.

Topological quantum computers are equivalent in computational power to other standard models of quantum computation, in particular to the quantum circuit model and to the quantum Turing machine model. That is, any of these models can efficiently simulate any of the others. Nonetheless, certain algorithms may be a more natural fit to the topological quantum computer model. For example, algorithms for evaluating the Jones polynomial were first developed in the topological model, and only later converted and extended in the standard quantum circuit model.

To live up to its name, a topological quantum computer must provide the unique computation properties promised by a conventional quantum computer design, which uses trapped quantum particles. In 2000, Michael H. Freedman, Alexei Kitaev, Michael J. Larsen, and Zhenghan Wang proved that a topological quantum computer can, in principle, perform any computation that a conventional quantum computer can do, and vice versa.

They found that a conventional quantum computer device, given an error-free operation of its logic circuits, will give a solution with an absolute level of accuracy, whereas a topological quantum computing device with flawless operation will give the solution with only a finite level of accuracy. However, any level of precision for the answer can be obtained by adding more braid twists (logic circuits) to the topological quantum computer, in a simple linear relationship. In other words, a reasonable increase in elements (braid twists) can achieve a high degree of accuracy in the answer. Actual computation [gates] are done by the edge states of a fractional quantum Hall effect. This makes models of one-dimensional anyons important. In one space dimension, anyons are defined algebraically.

Even though quantum braids are inherently more stable than trapped quantum particles, there is still a need to control for error inducing thermal fluctuations, which produce random stray pairs of anyons which interfere with adjoining braids. Controlling these errors is simply a matter of separating the anyons to a distance where the rate of interfering strays drops to near zero. Simulating the dynamics of a topological quantum computer may be a promising method of implementing fault-tolerant quantum computation even with a standard quantum information processing scheme. Raussendorf, Harrington, and Goyal have studied one model, with promising simulation results.