A New Qubit Platform Is Created Atom By Atom

Researchers on the IBS Heart for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS) at Ewha Womans College have completed a groundbreaking step ahead in quantum data science. In partnership with groups from Japan, Spain, and the US, they created a novel electron-spin qubit platform, assembled atom-by-atom on a floor. This breakthrough was printed within the journal Science.

Not like earlier atomic quantum gadgets on surfaces the place solely a single qubit could possibly be managed, the researchers at QNS efficiently demonstrated the power to manage a number of qubits concurrently, enabling the applying of single-, two-, and three-qubit gates.

Qubits, the basic models of quantum data, are key to quantum purposes equivalent to quantum computing, sensing, and communication. PHARK Soo-hyon, one of many QNS principal investigators, highlights the importance of this undertaking. “Thus far, scientists have solely been in a position to create and management a single qubit on a floor, making this a significant step ahead in direction of multi-qubit techniques,” he acknowledged.

Led by BAE Yujeong, PHARK Soo-hyon, and director Andreas HEINRICH, QNS developed this novel platform, which consists of particular person magnetic atoms positioned on a pristine floor of a skinny insulator. These atoms will be exactly positioned utilizing the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and manipulated with the help of electron spin resonance (ESR-STM). This atomic-scale management has allowed researchers to control quantum states coherently. In addition they established the potential of controlling distant qubits, opening the trail to scaling as much as tens or tons of of qubits in a defect-free atmosphere.

BAE Yujeong identified, “It’s really wonderful that we will now management the quantum states of a number of particular person atoms on surfaces on the identical time”. The atomic-scale precision of this platform permits for the distant manipulation of the atoms to carry out qubit operations individually, with out transferring the tip of the STM.

This analysis marks a big departure from different qubit platforms, equivalent to photonic gadgets, ion and atom traps, and superconducting gadgets. One of many distinctive advantages of this surface-based electron-spin strategy is the myriad of obtainable spin species and the huge number of two-dimensional geometries that may be exactly assembled.

Trying ahead, the researchers anticipate quantum sensing, computation, and simulation protocols utilizing these exactly assembled atomic architectures. Altogether, the work by the QNS researchers is anticipated to usher in a brand new period of atomic-scale management in quantum data science, cementing Korea’s place as a worldwide chief within the discipline.