Stacking Graphene Creates Entirely New Quantum States

futurism.com/stacking-graphene-new-quantum-states

Kristin Houser

Unavoidable Errors
The qubits – the basic units of quantum communication – central to quantum computers
are incredibly fragile, prone to switching between states at the slightest disruption.

This has made error correction a major focus of quantum computer developers — they
need to find a way to keep the systems functioning even if an individual qubit is
corrupted. Not only that, but they have to do so without actually measuring the qubits,
since that would destroy their ability to exist in multiple states at once.

No easy task.

But now, a team of U.S. physicists has used the “supermaterial” graphene to uncover
several entirely new quantum states — and they think the discovery could lead to
quantum computers that don’t need error correction at all.

Super Sandwich
Graphene is a material comprising a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a
hexagonal lattice.

Researchers first isolated it from graphite, the mineral found in most pencils, in 2004,
and ever since, they’ve been wowed by graphene’s remarkable properties — despite
being so thin and light, it’s incredibly strong and a remarkable conductor of both heat
and electricity.

For their study, which was published in the journal Nature Physics on Monday,
researchers from Brown and Columbia Universities stacked two layers of graphene on
top of one another, separating them with a layer of another two-dimensional material —
hexagonal boron nitride — which they also wrapped around the entire graphene
sandwich.

When they then blasted the structure with incredibly strong magnetic fields, they found
it produced never-before-seen quantum states.

Quantum Computers
The discovery of these new quantum states is a remarkable achievement in and of itself
— as researcher Jia Li, an assistant professor of physics at Brown, noted in a press
release, “The findings show that stacking 2D materials together in close proximity
generates entirely new physics.”
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However, the specific states themselves are also remarkable, particularly in terms of the
role they could play in the development of quantum computers.

“Of particular interest are several new states that have the potential of hosting non-
Abelian wave functions — states that don’t quite fit the traditional composite fermion
model,” Jim Hone, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia, said in the press
release.

Electrons in non-Abelian states are able to “remember” their past positions in relation to
one another, according to the press release, and that ability could lead to the creation of
quantum computers that don’t need error correction at all — eliminating one of the
major hurdles between us and these incredibly powerful devices.

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