{"id":573732,"date":"2023-11-17T08:43:50","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T13:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=573732"},"modified":"2024-03-08T10:47:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T15:47:24","slug":"challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732\/","title":{"rendered":"Qubit by qubit: Optimizing silicon for quantum computing"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>A team of researchers is taking a \u2018materials-first\u2019 approach to addressing the challenges posed by silicon spin qubits.<\/h2>\n<p>Quantum computers harness quantum mechanics to perform computations and solve problems beyond the capabilities of classical computers. While a regular computer consists of billions of transistors, called bits, quantum computers are based on quantum bits, also known as qubits.<\/p>\n<p>In the quest to build powerful quantum computers, one type of qubit has shown exceptional promise: silicon spin qubits. These qubits not only have long coherence times but are also compatible with advanced semiconductor manufacturing techniques. Despite this promise, the material used in silicon spin qubits creates recurring challenges for researchers. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Charge noise<\/strong>, or erratic fluctuations in the electrostatic environment surrounding the qubits, making them unstable<\/li>\n<li><strong>Valley splitting<\/strong>, which creates quantum-dot energy levels that can get too close and cause unwanted complications<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spatial variations in electron g-factor<\/strong>, which can lead to difficulty controlling qubits<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To overcome these challenges, the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grants.gov\/search-results-detail\/346992\">awarded<\/a> more than $6.7 million to a multidisciplinary team of experts in materials characterization and modeling, silicon fabrication, and quantum experiments. Led by researchers at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\">Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a>, the team includes collaborators at the University at Buffalo; SUNY Stony Brook; NY Creates; University of California, Los Angeles; and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are taking a materials-first approach to discovering the underlying causes of the challenges with silicon spin qubits,\u201d says <a href=\"http:\/\/sas.rochester.edu\/pas\/people\/faculty\/nichol_john\/index.html\">John Nichol<\/a>, an associate professor of <a href=\"http:\/\/sas.rochester.edu\/pas\/\">physics<\/a> at Rochester and the primary investigator on the project.<\/p>\n<p>AFOSR funds high-risk basic research that has the potential to profoundly impact the nation\u2019s technological progress, in areas including the development of stable and powerful quantum computers. The office\u2019s funding of a partnership between academia, a national laboratory, and an innovation hub is key to making advances in quantum computing, according to Nichol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis team has the required expertise to investigate correlations and causation in silicon spin qubits and ultimately accelerate progress through materials development in this platform,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A team of researchers including John Nichol, an associate professor of physics, has won a grant from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research to address challenges posed by silicon spin qubits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":573752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[18662,37092,9186,16072],"class_list":["post-573732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-department-of-physics-and-astronomy","tag-john-nichol","tag-research-funding","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Qubit by qubit: Optimizing silicon for quantum computing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A team of researchers has won funding from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research to address the challenges posed by silicon spin qubits.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Qubit by qubit: Optimizing silicon for quantum computing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A team of researchers has won funding from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research to address the challenges posed by silicon spin qubits.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-17T13:43:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-08T15:47:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/fea-qubit-nichol.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"998\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sofia Tokar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sofia Tokar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sofia Tokar\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e2aecfd2d62aca26a6a82e0f0153199\"},\"headline\":\"Qubit by qubit: Optimizing silicon for quantum computing\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-17T13:43:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-08T15:47:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":344,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/challenges-silicon-spin-qubits-quantum-computing-573732\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/fea-qubit-nichol.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Physics and Astronomy\",\"John Nichol\",\"research funding\",\"School of Arts and Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science &amp; 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