. 24/7 Space News .
TECH SPACE
A one-stop shop for quantum sensing materials
by Staff Writers
Lemont IL (SPX) May 27, 2022

Defects in diamond membranes could hold the key to new quantum sensing materials. stock image only

The brilliant blue of the Hope Diamond is caused by small impurities in its crystal structure. Similar diamond impurities are also giving hope to scientists looking to create materials that can be used for quantum computing and quantum sensing.

In new research from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have created extremely thin membranes of pure diamond. In a few locations in the crystal structure of the membrane, however, the team substituted carbon atoms with other atoms, notably nitrogen. These defects connect to neighboring atomic vacancies - regions where an atom is missing - creating unusual quantum systems known as "color centers." Such color centers are sites for storing and processing quantum information.

This work was supported primarily by DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering division, with support from Q-NEXT, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Argonne.

Equipped with a way to cheaply and easily create diamond membranes that have robust color centers, scientists at Argonne hope to build a kind of assembly line for generating large numbers of these membranes for quantum experiments around the world.

The ability to grow the membranes could be the ticket to enhancing collaboration between different laboratories devoted to quantum information science, said University of Chicago graduate student Xinghan Guo, lead author of the study.

"Essentially, we hope this will eventually give us the ability to become a one-stop shop for quantum sensing materials," Guo said.

"The defects in the diamond are interesting to us because they can be exploited for quantum application," said Nazar Delegan, scientist in Argonne's Materials Science division and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and a collaborator with Q-NEXT. "Making these membranes allows us to integrate these defects with other systems and enables new experimental configurations."

Diamond is mechanically hard, chemically stable and generally expensive - in other words, it is kind of a scientific nightmare, notoriously difficult to fabricate and integrate. At the same time, diamond's particular structure makes it a great host for color centers that can store quantum information for a long time, Guo said.

"Conventional diamond as a substrate is super hard to work with," he said. "Our membranes are thinner and more accessible for a wide range of experiments."

The new diamond material fashioned by the researchers offers greater crystal and surface quality, enabling greater control over the coherence of the color centers.

"You can peel the membrane off and put it on a wide range of substrates, even put it on a silicon wafer. It's a cheap, flexible and easy way of working with color centers without having to work directly with conventional diamond," Guo said.

"Because we're able to control and maintain the quantum properties in individual defects within these very thin materials, it makes this platform promising as basis for a quantum technologies," Delegan said.

A paper based on the study "Tunable and transferable diamond membranes for integrated quantum technologies" appeared in the December 13, 2021, online edition of Nano Letters. In addition to Delegan and Guo, other authors of the study are Jonathan Karsch, Zixi Li, Tinale Liu, Robert Shreiner, Amy Butcher, David Awschalom, F. Joseph Heremans and Alexander A. High.

Research Report:"Tunable and transferable diamond membranes for integrated quantum technologies"


Related Links
Argonne National Laboratory
Space Technology News - Applications and Research


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


TECH SPACE
Self-powered fabric can help correct posture in real time with the help of machine learning
Beijing, China (SPX) May 27, 2022
Posture is an important part of health. Prolonged poor posture, such as slouching or leaning to one side, can lead to pain and discomfort. It has also been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, vision problems, strokes, and musculoskeletal diseases. Solutions are needed to help people adjust their posture to prevent these problems and improve the health of students and people with sedentary careers. Current monitoring solutions have limitations that have prevented their widespread ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

TECH SPACE
NanoAvionics and Gama to set sails in space

Boeing Starliner completes key test mission to ISS, with some hiccups

Soil, sutures, and climate modeling among investigations riding SpaceX CRS-25 Dragon to ISS

NASA-supported solar sail could take science to new heights

TECH SPACE
Upper Stage Propulsion System for future Artemis mission reaches major milestone

SpaceX's Transporter 5 launches with remains of 47 people for 'space burial'

Southern Launch receives further Government funding

Debris from Chinese rocket reenters atmosphere, mostly burning up

TECH SPACE
Blast a Knob: Sols 3485-3486

NASA's Perseverance rover's playlist like no other on Mars

Up, Up and Away - Sols 3487-3490

Why Did Mars Dry Out? New Study Points To Unusual Answers

TECH SPACE
Researchers start planting space-bred seeds returned by Shenzhou-13

China's space tracking ship departs for 100th mission

New cargo spacecraft being built

The beginning of a multi-spacecraft exploration in Martian space by China, the US and Europe

TECH SPACE
Satellogic launches 4 Satellites on SpaceX Transporter-5 Mission

Sidus Space selects L3Harris Mission Critical Operations Center Software for LizzieSat constellation

OneWeb satellite to be deorbited at the end of its active lifetime

OneWeb and TinSky complete first West African LEO Satellite Gateway

TECH SPACE
NASA Supports Small Business Research to power future exploration

A one-stop shop for quantum sensing materials

Benchmark Space Systems to support Space Forge's Sustainable In-Space Manufacturing Mission

Varda Space Industries orders 4th Photon from Rocket Lab for In-Space Manufacturing

TECH SPACE
Geology from 50 light-years away

Unistellar and SETI Institute expand Worldwide Citizen-Science Astronomy Network

AI reveals unsuspected math underlying search for exoplanets

Extraterrestrial civilizations may colonize the Galaxy even if they don't have starships

TECH SPACE
Bern flies to Jupiter

Traveling to the centre of planet Uranus

Juno captures moon shadow on Jupiter

Greenland Ice, Jupiter Moon Share Similar Feature









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.