quantum sensing
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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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Sensing a cure: quantum technology takes aim at neurodegenerative disease
From the University of Chicago: Q-NEXT collaborator Peter Maurer at the University of Chicago creates next-generation quantum sensors that will unlock new doors in biological and medical research. Built from diamonds and powered by quantum physics, Maurer’s nanosensors will be able to measure magnetic and electric fields, time, temperature, and pressure inside a living cell. Read More
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A quantum sense for dark matter
From Science: Quantum sensing can "make it possible to do an experiment in 3 years that would otherwise take thousands of years," says Q-NEXT collaborator Kent Irwin. By harnessing the strange rules of the subatomic realm, quantum sensors could solve one of the universe’s biggest mysteries. Read More
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A quantum of sensing — atomic scale bolsters new sensor boom
From IEEE Spectrum: An emerging generation of quantum sensors lead to new levels of sensitivity, new kinds of applications, and new opportunities to advance a range of fields, technologies, and scientific pursuits. Quantum sensing research by Q-NEXT collaborators David Awschalom, Kent Irwin, Paul Kwiat, Peter Maurer, and others is opening up possibilities in medicine, astrophysics, engineering and tech. 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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The quantum squeeze
From Symmetry: A technique from the newest generation of quantum sensors is helping scientists to use the limitations of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to their advantage. Q-NEXT collaborator Kent Irwin helped develop the transition-edge sensor, a progenitor to the quantum squeezing technique. Read More
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Chicago Quantum Profile: Joe Heremans
From the Chicago Quantum Exchange: Joe Heremans is a staff scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, where he works on wide-bandgap solid-state materials systems with individual atomic defects. These defects “trap” an electron whose spin state can be manipulated with lasers, electric and strain fields, and microwaves. These systems have promising applications in quantum communication and sensing. Read More
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Argonne quantum research may reshape how we sense and relay data
The smallest bits of matter and energy are the building blocks of a radically new paradigm for sensing and relaying information. Read More
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Preparing for breakthroughs in quantum sensing
We have a great opportunity for advancing quantum sensing through Q-NEXT thanks to a combination of recent breakthroughs in our ability to control and manipulate quantum states and Q-NEXT's investment in infrastructure and projects to use entanglement in systems. As we enter Q-NEXT's second year, the Quantum Sensing Thrust is ramping up plans to leverage entanglement and squeezing for advantages at new frontiers of sensitivity, length scale and frequency scale. 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