quantum materials
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Scientists achieve breakthrough on quantum signaling
A tiny device that entangles light and electrons without super-cooling could revolutionize quantum tech in cryptography, computing, and AI. Read More
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Simulating magnetic interactions of atomic qubits
Researchers introduce new computational tools that can reconstruct the magnetic interactions of atoms close to spin defects using only short measurements that take hours instead of days, enabling faster use of atomic qubits for quantum sensing. Read More
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Spin qubits: sensing heartbeats to dark matter — with Argonne National Laboratory
From the Post Quantum World podcast: The word “foundry” might make you think of large machines pouring metal into molds, but Argonne National Lab has a Quantum Foundry that implants individual atoms, like silicon, into materials such as diamond. The resulting spin qubits are optically active and can use photons to communicate. We can expect spin qubits to help interconnect systems, which could help us achieve distributed quantum computing, but they also could be used for everything from room-temperature biological sensors to durable, space-based dark matter detectors. Join host Konstantinos Karagiannis for a cosmic chat with Benjamin Pingault from Argonne National Laboratory. Read More
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Leading quantum at an inflection point
From MIT: Danna Freedman is the faculty director of the nascent MIT Quantum Initiative, or QMIT. In this new role, Freedman is giving shape to an ambitious effort to apply quantum breakthroughs to the most consequential challenges in science, technology, industry and national security. Read More
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Tracking vibrations
Researchers show that tiny resonators suffer abrupt frequency jumps due to individual solid-state defects flipping between two states. Understanding this noise source reveals how to suppress it, boosting performance for quantum technologies. Read More
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Common crystal proves ideal for low-temperature light technology
From Stanford University: Strontium titanate’s impressive performance at extremely low temperatures positions it as a key material for advanced cryogenic devices in quantum computing and space exploration. An illustration of strontium titanate crystals at cryogenic chill. Read More
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Thin films for quantum information transmission in telecom networks
Researchers grow thin films made of calcium molybdate in a way that is promising for quantum light sources that work at telecom wavelengths. Read More
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Spin glass for studying behavior in quantum materials
Researchers create a new kind of quantum simulator that mimics the behavior of a spin glass — a complex magnetic system where particles interact in random, competing ways — using light and ultracold atoms inside an optical cavity. Read More
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Faculty wins DARPA award for quantum computing breakthrough
Chris Anderson of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has earned a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award for his research on strontium titanate optical modulators. Read More
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Enhanced light-matter interactions
Resonant metasurfaces enhance llight-matter interactions, making them ideal for efficient on-chip quantum light generation and manipulation. 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