Researchers on the University of California, Irvine and Los Alamos National Laboratory, publishing in the most recent issue of Nature Communications, describe the invention of a brand new method that transforms on a regular basis materials like glass into materials scientists can use to make quantum computers.
“The materials we made are substances that exhibit unique electrical or quantum properties due to their specific atomic shapes or structures,” said Luis A. Jauregui, professor of physics & astronomy at UCI and lead writer of the brand new paper. “Imagine if we could transform glass, typically considered an insulating material, and convert it into efficient conductors akin to copper. That is what we have done.”
Conventional computers use silicon as a conductor, but silicon has limits. Quantum computers stand to assist bypass these limits, and methods like those described in the brand new study will help quantum computers turn into an on a regular basis reality.
“This experiment relies on the unique capabilities that we now have at UCI for growing high-quality quantum materials. How can we transform these materials which are poor conductors into good conductors?” said Jauregui, who’s also a member of UCI’s Eddleman Quantum Institute. “That is what we have done on this paper. We have been applying recent techniques to those materials, and we have transformed them to being good conductors.”
The important thing, Jauregui explained, was applying the fitting type of strain to materials on the atomic scale. To do that, the team designed a special apparatus called a “bending station” on the machine shop within the UCI School of Physical Sciences that allowed them to use large strain to vary the atomic structure of a fabric called hafnium pentatelluride from a “trivial” material into a fabric fit for a quantum computer.
“To create such materials, we want to ‘poke holes’ within the atomic structure,” said Jauregui. “Strain allows us to do this.”
“You can even turn the atomic structure change on or off by controlling the strain, which is helpful if you must create an on-off switch for the fabric in a quantum computer in the longer term,” said Jinyu Liu, who’s the primary writer of the paper and a postdoctoral scholar working with Jauregui.
“I’m pleased by the best way theoretical simulations offer profound insights into experimental observations, thereby accelerating the invention of methods for controlling the quantum states of novel materials,” said co-author Ruqian Wu, professor of physics and Associate Director of the UCI Center for Complex and Lively Materials — a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). “This underscores the success of collaborative efforts involving diverse expertise in frontier research.”
“I’m excited that our team was capable of show that these elusive and much-sought-after material states will be made,” said Michael Pettes, study co-author and scientist with the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “That is promising for the event of quantum devices, and the methodology we display is compatible for experimentation on other quantum materials as well.”
At once, quantum computers only exist in a number of places, reminiscent of within the offices of firms like IBM, Google and Rigetti. “Google, IBM and plenty of other firms are in search of effective quantum computers that we are able to use in our day by day lives,” said Jauregui. “Our hope is that this recent research helps make the promise of quantum computers more of a reality.”
Funding got here from the UCI-MRSEC — an NSF CAREER grant to Jauregui and Los Alamos National Laboratory Directed Research and Development Directed Research program funds.
