News and Features
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Bo Peng ensures quantum computers don’t ‘bring in da noise’
A Q-NEXT collaborator at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Bo Peng is pioneering new ways to beat down the noise in quantum computers. Read More
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A one-stop shop for quantum sensing materials
Researchers have created extremely thin membranes of pure diamond in which carbon atoms are replaced nitrogen. These defects connect to neighboring atomic vacancies,creating unusual quantum systems for storing and processing quantum information. Read More
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Simulating spin defects for more effective quantum computing
For quantum computers to become an everyday reality, there is a long way to go and many challenging tests to pass. One of the tests involves using quantum computers to simulate the properties of materials for next-generation quantum technologies. In research supported by Q-NEXT, scientists performed quantum simulations of spin defects — specific impurities in materials that could offer a promising basis for new quantum technologies. The study improved the accuracy of calculations on quantum computers by correcting for noise introduced by quantum hardware. Read More
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Q-NEXT partner ColdQuanta acquires Chicago-based startup Super.tech
Global quantum-technology company and Chicago quantum startup embedded at Argonne's Chain Reaction Innovations come together to advance quantum science and engineering Read More
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Amazon Web Services joins Q-NEXT quantum center
Amazon Web Services has become a member of Q-NEXT. With AWS as a member, Q-NEXT now comprises 13 companies, 10 universities and three DOE national laboratories. AWS will contribute fundamental research to the Q-NEXT community to advance the use of quantum technologies. Read More
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Intel to install quantum computing test bed for Q-NEXT
Partnership with the world’s leading chip manufacturer accelerates the development of quantum devices. Read More
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A mathematical shortcut for determining quantum information lifetimes
A new, elegant equation allows scientists to easily compute the quantum information lifetime of 12,000 different materials. Read More
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MIT joins Q-NEXT national quantum research center
The MIT team brings world-leading molecular chemistry research to the Q-NEXT quantum materials development effort. Read More
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A new platform for customizable quantum devices
A ground-up approach to qubit design leads to a new framework for creating versatile, highly tailored quantum devices. Read More
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Shimon Kolkowitz of Q-NEXT quantum center awarded Sloan Fellowship
The competitive, prestigious award is given to promising researchers in the early stages of their careers. Read More
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David Awschalom wins global Breakthrough of the Year award
David Awschalom, Q-NEXT Chief Science Officer and the Liew Family Professor of Quantum Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago, received the prestigious Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in Physical Sciences for a pioneering body of work that broke the wall between quantum technology, molecules, and proteins. Read More
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Helium lifts new quantum computing concept
A team led by Jacob Covey, who is part of Q-NEXT and is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, laid out a new concept that could turn helium’s light weight into the next generation of quantum computers. The design relies on helium-3, an isotope with different quantum properties than the helium-4 used to cool MRI machines and fill party balloons. Once built, the computer could use high-powered lasers as “optical tweezers” to capture and control individual atoms of helium. Read More
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Researchers make materials that support quantum technology
Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who are part of Q-NEXT are engineering material systems that support quantum technology. Chris Anderson and his team are developing materials for quantum transduction — the conversion of quantum information from one form to another. Elizabeth Goldschmidt, Daniel Shoemaker, and colleagues are developing quantum memory technology that stores quantum information for extended periods of time. Read More
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Silicon Chip Offers New Way to Probe Quantum Materials in Strong Magnetic Fields
Scientists have created a silicon chip that can detect the electrical behavior of very small materials by using very high-frequency waves. The chip is made only from silicon and other non-superconducting materials and still performs very well when cooled from room temperature down to about 4 Kelvin. Read More
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Making quantum bits ready to use again much sooner
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Intel have found that a simple electrical pulse can quickly push a quantum dot qubit out of a latched state and return it to its starting condition with very high reliability. Read More
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Q-NEXT-developed open-source software receives 2026 R&D 100 award
SeQUeNCe, a free, open-source software developed by Argonne scientists with Q-NEXT support, is one of seven Argonne projects that received a 2026 R&D 100 Award. The SeQUeNCe software lets researchers test how quantum networks might work before building them. Read More
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Researchers generate spontaneous magnons that synchronize with external signals
Researchers at Argonne and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign demonstrate a method for generating stable ripples in magnetic materials called magnons. The work opens avenues for information processing in microelectronics and quantum devices. Read More
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Uncovering the hidden disorder in silicon quantum computers
From the U.S. Department of Energy: Q-NEXT researchers map the variation in materials to the atom level to scale up silicon qubits Read More
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Color centers in high-purity diamond
Researchers mapped how electron irradiation makes defects inside diamond, finding that creating more vacancies does not always produce more NV centers. Too many vacancies can form unwanted defects. This result can inform advances in quantum sensing. Read More
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Containing multitudes: SLAC scientist collaborates to create scalable qubits
At SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Q-NEXT collaborator Shannon Harvey develops quantum dots — a mass-producible type of qubit. Driven by curiosity about nature and how things work, Harvey draws on her facility for working at the nanoscale. Read More