The Need

Innovations in the field of quantum information technology are paramount to addressing the escalating demand for advanced computational capabilities and sensitive sensor applications. As these new technologies are poised to disrupt traditional computing and sensing methodologies, there arises an urgent commercial need for breakthroughs that allow for effective implementation of quantum technologies. This demand is fueled by diverse sectors such as finance, healthcare, materials science, and national security, all seeking to harness the unparalleled power of quantum information for solving complex problems and unlocking new insights.

The Technology

The technology introduces a pioneering approach to construction of tunnel junction devices. At its core, the process consists of stacking two-dimensional sheets of conductive and insulting materials, such as graphene and hexagonal boron nitride sheets, with impurities (e.g. defects, atoms, or molecules) strategically embedded between insulating layers.

Benefits/Advantages

• A General Platform Technology Opens up Versatile Applications: The manufacturing process is simple, allowing for parameters like tunnel junction thickness or the type of impurity to be easily adjusted to fit the end need, from quantum computing to sensing and transduction.
• Enhanced Scalability: By stacking insulating, conducting and impurity materials layer by layer, fabrication becomes highly scalable and easy to integrate into different types of technologies.
• Electrical Readouts: This tunnel junction design provides electrical readouts, allowing for integration into technologies that are incompatible or difficult to operate with the more standard optical readouts of competing solid-state qubits.
• Versatile applications: The technology offers a versatile platform adaptable to diverse commercial needs beyond quantum information. For example, characterizing small molecules using a platform with minimal instrumentation overhead.

Commercial Applications

• Quantum sensors: Facilitating the creation of ultra-sensitive devices for precision measurements.
• Quantum computing: Enabling the development of highly efficient qubits for quantum information processing.
• Quantum transduction: Paving the way for novel technologies that convert quantum information between different physical modalities, essential for quantum communication networks.