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Researchers from Simon Fraser University were successful in making a breakthrough in the field of quantum technology development. Their study paves the way for creating silicon-based quantum computing processors compatible with the existing semiconductor manufacturing technology.

The researchers light up the silicon chips tiny defects with intense light beams. Stephanie Simmons, the principal investigator of the research, explains that the imperfections of the chips serve as an information carrier. Investigators point out that the tiny defect reflects the transmitted light.

Some of the naturally occurring silicon imperfections may act as quantum bits or qubits. Scientists consider these defects as spin qubits. Also, previous research shows how silicon produces long-lived and stale qubits.

Daniel Higginbottom, their lead author, considers this breakthrough promising. He explains that the researchers were able to combine silicon defects with quantum physics when it was considered to be impossible to do before.

Furthermore, he notes that while silicon defects have been studied extensively from the 1970s to the 1990s and quantum physics research being done for decades, its only now that they saw these two studies come together. He says that by utilizing optical technology in silicon defects[theyve] have found something with applications in quantum technology thats certainly remarkable.

Simmons acknowledges that quantum computing is the future of computers with its capability to solve simple and complex problems, however, its still in its early stages. But with the use of silicon chips, the process can become more streamlined and bring quantum computing faster to the public than expected.

This study demonstrates the possibility of making quantum computers with enough power and scale to manage significant computation. It gives an opportunity for advancements in the fields of cybersecurity, chemistry, medicine, and other fields.

Photo credit: The feature image is symbolic and has been taken by Solar Seven.Sources: Chat News Today / Quantum Inspire

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Researchers Find Breakthrough on Quantum Computing With Silicon Chips - TechAcute

Aug. 9, 2022 Travis Humble has been named director of the Quantum Science Center headquartered at the Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The QSC is a multi-institutional partnership that spans industry, academia and government institutions and is tasked with uncovering the full potential of quantum materials, sensors and algorithms.

Humble was named deputy director in 2020, when DOE established this five-year, $115 million effort as one of five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. Following the departure of former QSC Director David Dean, Humble began serving as interim director in January.

I am excited to be working at the forefront of quantum science and technology with this amazing team of scientists and engineers, he said. The QSC provides a wonderful opportunity to leverage our nations best and brightest for solving some of the most interesting scientific problems of our time.

As interim director, Humble has overseen the QSCs three primary focus areas: quantum materials discovery and development, quantum algorithms and simulation, and quantum devices and sensors for discovery science. In his new role, he will continue collaborating with QSC partner institutions including ORNL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Purdue University, Microsoft and IBM.

A distinguished ORNL scientist, Humble also directs the laboratorys Quantum Computing Institute and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facilitys Quantum Computing User Program. The QSC leverages DOE user facilities, including the OLCF, to solve research problems.

Humble joined ORNL as an intelligence community postdoctoral research fellow in 2005, then became a staff member in 2007. He received a bachelors degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a masters degree and doctorate in theoretical chemistry from the University of Oregon.

As QSC director, Humble will prioritize the development of quantum materials for quantum computing and quantum sensing, as well as the application of these technologies to aid scientific discovery, improve the nations security and energy efficiency, and ensure economic competitiveness. Other goals include demonstrating the advantages of early quantum computers and advancing methods for probing the fundamental physics of quantum matter.

By addressing current quantum challenges and expanding workforce development activities focused on recruitment and training, Humble anticipates that the QSCs leadership role in the ongoing quantum revolution will continue to grow.

Humble also serves as an assistant professor with the University of Tennessee, Knoxvilles Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, editor-in-chief for ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing, associate editor for Quantum Information Processing and co-chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Quantum Initiative.

Now in his 17th year at ORNL and more passionate about the future of quantum than ever, Humble is positioning the QSC to shape quantum research and technologies at national and international scales.

Quantum science and technology are transformative paradigms, and we have only scratched the surface of what is possible, he said. The QSC will bring new discoveries in materials, computing and sensing that promote a deeper understanding of these ideas and prepare us for the next generation of quantum technologies.

The QSC, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by ORNL, performs cutting-edge research at national laboratories, universities, and industry partners to overcome key roadblocks in quantum state resilience, controllability, and ultimately the scalability of quantum technologies. QSC researchers are designing materials that enable topological quantum computing; implementing new quantum sensors to characterize topological states and detect dark matter; and designing quantum algorithms and simulations to provide a greater understanding of quantum materials, chemistry, and quantum field theories. These innovations enable the QSC to accelerate information processing, explore the previously unmeasurable, and better predict quantum performance across technologies. For more information, visitqscience.org.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOEs Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOEs Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visithttps://energy.gov/science.

Source: ORNL

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Humble Named Director of the Quantum Science Center - HPCwire

Spintronics is an emerging technology that exploits the intrinsic quantum properties of particles like the electron, and the associated particle angular moment, called spin, in addition to the particle's electric charge.

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The dynamic control of the electron spin offers possibilities for creating novel quantum-mechanical devices, such as spin transistors, spin valves, and high-density memory. Spintronic systems are of particular interest in the field of quantum sensing, computing, and data processing.

Conventional electronic devices rely on the generation, transport, manipulation, and detection of electric charge carriers, such as electrons and holes.

Spintronics employs the intrinsic angular momentum of the particles (spin) together with their electric charge. The electrons exist either in spin-up or spin-down states, which can represent 0s and 1s in logic operations.

However, to build spintronic devices, the properties of the materials are crucial. In most materials, the spin-up and spin-down magnetic moments cancel each other, making them unsuitable for spintronic applications. In ferromagnetic materials, particles with the same spin state can accumulate in a majority-up and majority-down domains.

The spin state in these randomly scattered domains can be easily manipulated by the application of external magnetic fields. In addition, the transfer of electron spin-states between different materials and their reliable detection is also of great importance for spintronics.

Spintronics: The Technology Revolution Youve Probably Never Heard OfPlay

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Most of the existing spin-based devices, such as giant magnetoresistance-based memory and spin valves, are passive spintronic elements. In such spintronic devices, the material's resistance or tunneling current in the system depends on the spin direction controlled by local magnetic fields.

The goal of the engineers and physicists developing spintronics is to move the field beyond the passive spin devices and create applications based on dynamic spin control. The two physical principles underlying the current interest in spintronics are the quantum-mechanical nature of the spin and the extended coherence time of the spin states. In particular, the coherence, or the stability of the quantum states with time, is an essential factor for spintronic and quantum applications.

By actively manipulating the spin of the charge carrier particles with spin-dependent properties, researchers envisage that they can create spin transistors, spin filters, and new memory devices suitable for quantum information processing and computation.

In these devices, the spin polarization can be controlled via spin-orbit coupling (the interaction between the particle spin and its orbital momentum), and spin waves, or magnons, can carry spin current through the material without energy loss.

Twodimensional (2D) materials have been drawing tremendous attention in spintronics because of their distinctive spindependent properties, such as long spin relaxation times, diffusion lengths and strong spin-orbit coupling.

Furthermore, the rapid advance in nanotechnology has enabled scientists to combine several preferred properties in one superior material through van der Waals stacking of two or more 2D material layers.

Graphene, with its high charge carrier mobility, extended spin lifetime, and long diffusion length, emerged as an excellent platform for fundamental spintronic research and eventual spintronics devices.

Recently, several research groups demonstrated spin injection in graphene at room temperature using a cobalt electrode. Spin detection has also been achieved by comparing spin-up and spin-down local currents. However, because of its zero bandgap and weak spin-orbit coupling, the material has limitations in building advanced spintronic devices, such as logic gates.

In contrast, 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, transition metal carbides, nitrides, carbonitrides, and organometallic sheets exhibit tunable bandgap and strong spin-orbit coupling, enabling reliable spin logic and non-volatile data storage.

The development of magnetic 2D materials with high Curie temperature is of particular interest, such as organometallic layered structures with embedded transition metal atoms. Such materials have been used to fabricate magnetic tunnel junction devices (ferromagnetic layers separated by a nonmagnetic layer), where the current can be controlled by the relative magnetization of the outer layers. Combining spin valves and magnetic tunnel junctions with the spin-transfer-torque writing write mechanism enabled researchers to create non-volatile high-speed magnetic random access memory.

There are several outstanding challenges related to the stability of the 2D materials and their manufacturing. Due to their atomic thickness, 2D spintronic devices are highly susceptible to moisture, oxidation, and thermal damage, thus requiring operation in a protected environment. Besides, the Curie temperature of most of the 2D magnetic materials is far below room temperature.

Most 2D materials are fabricated through mechanical exfoliation and stacking, which is time-consuming and expensive. Developing 2D materials suitable for wafer-scale synthesis and operation at ambient conditions are prerequisites for their wider adoption in spintronic applications.

Spintronics is at the point of becoming a mainstream technology similar to semiconductor-based microelectronics. Ongoing research and development efforts aim to integrate spintronics and photonics into a common platform for light-based and spin-based quantum computing. By using specially designed photonic circuits, researchers are hoping to be able to control the electron spin dynamics in nanostructured 2D magnetic materials when excited by short laser pulses.

Ahn, E.C. (2020) 2D materials for spintronic devices. npj 2DMaterials andApplications, 4, p. 17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41699-020-0152-0

Hu, G & Xiang, B. (2020) Recent Advances in Two-Dimensional Spintronics. Nanoscale Res Letters,15, p. 226. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s11671-020-03458-y

Feng, Y.P., et al. (2017) Prospects of spintronics based on 2D materials. WIREs Comput Mol Sciences, 7, p. e1313. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/wcms.1313

Awschalom, D. D., et al. (2013) Quantum spintronics: engineering and manipulating atom-like spins in semiconductors. Science, 8, p. 339, 6124-1174-9. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1231364

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Spintronics, 2D Materials, and the Future of Quantum - AZoNano