Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, based on fragile, short-lived quantum mechanical states. To make qubits robust and tailor them for applications, researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory sought to create a new material system.
They coupled a superconductor, which offers no resistance to electrical current, with a, which has electrically conductive surfaces but an insulating interior. The result is an atomically sharp interface between crystalline thin films with different symmetric arrangements of atoms. The novel interface that they designed and engineered may give rise to exotic physics and host a unique quantum building block with potential as a superior qubit.," Moore said.
ORNL's Matt Brahlek used molecular beam epitaxy to grow a thin film interface of topological insulating and superconducting materials, atom by atom. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy This strategic investment in ARPES expertise helped ORNL win its bid to lead one of five DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, the Quantum Science Center, which launched in 2020. Led by ORNL's Travis Humble, the QSC aims to realize quantum computing and sensing applications by developing hardware and algorithms and discovering novel materials. Moore and his colleagues focus on topological materials for hardware development.
Connecting wires to the interface of the topological insulator and superconductor enables probing of novel electronic properties. Researchers aim for qubits based on theorized Majorana particles. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy That accomplishment was tricky because the superconductor's lattice of iron, selenium and tellurium comprises ordered square cells, whereas the topological insulator is a network of adjoining triangles."We're putting something square on something triangular, but surprisingly, the crystalline film grows nicely," Brahlek said.
Meanwhile, Hoyeon Jeon and An-Ping Li at ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences used scanning tunneling microscopy to characterize disorder in the materials. ORNL staff scientists Hu Miao and Satoshi Okamoto provided experimental and theoretical guidance throughout the study.
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