New Quantum Bit Platform Points to New Direction for Low-Cost, Large-Scale Quantum Computers
A paper, titled “Single electrons on solid neon as a solid-state qubit platform,” published in the journal Nature by Assistant Professor Xufeng Zhang, electrical and computer engineering, who had a key contribution in the quantum microwave measurements, and researchers at Argonne National Lab and other collaborative institutions, demonstrates a fundamentally new quantum bit (qubit) platform. The qubit platform is achieved by freezing neon gas to a solid at a temperature only 10 millidegrees above absolute zero and then trapping a single electron on its surface. Solid neon provides a super clean environment for the trapped electron, and therefore can protect its delicate quantum states. In this way, the electron exhibits superb properties as a qubit such as long coherence times, and it can be easily operated by a microwave superconducting circuit underneath the solid neon. This platform points to a new direction for developing low-cost large-scale quantum computers and will enable broad applications in quantum information science and technology.