When it comes to quantum technology, niobium is making a comeback.
For the past 15 years, niobium has been sitting on the bench after experiencing a few mediocre at-bats as a core qubit material.
Qubits are the fundamental components of quantum devices. One qubit type relies on superconductivity to process information.
Touted for its superior qualities as a superconductor, niobium has always a promising candidate for quantum technologies. However, scientists found niobium difficult to engineer as a core qubit component, and so it was relegated to the second string on Team Superconducting Qubit.
Now, a group led by Stanford University’s David Schuster has demonstrated a way to create niobium-based qubits that rival the state-of-the-art for their class.
“This was a promising first foray, having resurrected niobium junctions. … With niobium-based qubits’ broad operational reach, we open up a whole new set of capabilities for future quantum technologies.” — David Schuster, Stanford University
“We’ve shown that niobium is relevant again, expanding the possibilities of what we can do with qubits,” said Alexander Anferov of the University of Chicago’s Physical Science division, one of the lead scientists of the result.
The team’s work is published in Physical Review Applied and was supported in part by Q-NEXT, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory.
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