The Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA) pioneers studies to build and co-design the next generation of programmable quantum devices. An interdisciplinary team of scientists from QSA institutions, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory, conducted a series of experiments with a new type of layered 2D metal, finding connections in electronic behavior that might potentially be useful for fabricating complex superconducting quantum processors.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Electronic structure measurements and calculations of NiTa 4 Se 8 . Credit: Berkeley Lab The research with this new transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) leverages teams of experts at Berkeley Lab collaborating and co-designing across different fields while leveraging state-of-the-art national capabilities and instrumentation at the Advanced Light Source and Molecular Foundry. Physical Review B published the experimental results in December 2022. Novel experiments for a deeper understanding of the physics of new materials Searching for new superconducting 2D materials can provide clues to many of the fabrication and materials challenges of superconducting quantum processors currently using conventional materials such as aluminum, niobium, and silicon. TMDs are exotic metals that can naturally be fabricated into very thin layers with a well-defined crystalline structure ideally suited for experimentation and devices. They display unique physical properties from the interactions of their electrons. The electrons can be localized to a few atoms interacting more strongly with each other. The densely packed, closely interacting electrons can trigger unique properties and behaviors such as superconductivity and itinerant magnetism. Superconductivity enables the movement of an electrical charge through the metal with little to no resistance. Itinerant magnetism occurs when electrons transfer magnetism from one atom to another instead of being localized to a fixed position. An important finding in the scientific literature is that materials are generally superconductors or magnets, but not both. However, the itinerant magnetism phase is close to the superconductivity transition. Hence, detecting strong magnetic properties in the crystalline structure of a TMD is a great starting point…