Ion beams enable developments in quantum technology

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Since 2017, the IAEA has brought together experts from around the world through a coordinated research project (CRP) to develop materials for quantum technologies. The CRP includes the development of new experimental techniques and the refinement of theoretical models, with the aim of understanding the effects of radiation and ion interaction processes.

By leveraging quantum technology, we can manipulate the structure of materials at the atomic level with ion beams from accelerators, resulting in new types of materials used for quantum computing, sensing, cryptography, imaging and more, Simon said. leading the project. Ion beams are created when charged particles are accelerated.

The CRP connected experts from Australia, China, Croatia, Finland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain and the United States. I was drawn to the CRP because of the promise to connect with people I don’t normally speak with from different countries and disciplines. By bringing different representatives together and focusing efforts, we were able to come up with new ideas that we wouldn’t have come up with separately, said Thomas Schenkel, Head for Fusion Science and Ion Beam Technology at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States.

For example, the CRP supported researchers who discovered how to use ion beams to create tightly coupled quantum bit chains (qubits). Qubits are basic units of information that are more complex and powerful than the information-carrying bits used in conventional processing. While computer prototypes of 10 to 50 qubits are used to develop quantum software, the latest discovery shows the potential to form quantum systems with up to 10,000 coupled qubits over a length of 50 microns, about the width of a strand of human hair. We want to play more with this, explore the effect and then integrate qubit chains with control and reading electronics for quantum sensing applications, for example to probe the activity of neurons in the brain or to detect rare interaction events. with dark matter, Schenkel said. Quantum sensors with qubits formed using ion beams are being developed in the laboratories participating in the CRP. These sensors can provide highly accurate measurements and will improve the performance of everyday devices and services, from medical diagnostics and imaging to high-precision navigation.

The results of the study were published in the journal Applied Physics Letters in February of this year. To date, CRP participants have published 55 scientific articles or book chapters related to new materials, models and new acceleration technologies.

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