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Key Points
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory researchers designed a new quantum computing chip architecture that uses magnetic levitation to solve a persistent flaw in electron-on-neon qubits.
The design, published in the American Physical Society journal PRX Quantum, replaces random surface defects with precisely placed neon microparticles that hold electron qubits in a stable, predictable location.
Study co-authors Professor Wei Guo, Yinghe Qi and Assistant Professor Yiming Xing say the approach could make quantum devices more reproducible and easier to scale into larger qubit arrays.
The work builds on research from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Florida State University’s Quantum Initiative, with additional support from Florida A&M University’s National Science Foundation ExpandQISE grant.
A new way to build a qubit: Engineers replace chance with design
What Is an Electron-on-Neon Qubit?
A qubit, or quantum bit, is the basic unit of information in a quantum computer. Unlike a standard computer bit, which is either a 0 or a 1, a qubit can represent multiple states at once until it’s measured, giving quantum computers the potential to solve certain problems far faster than classical machines.
Electron-on-neon qubits work by holding a single electron above a surface of solid neon. The neon’s extreme purity gives the electron a clean, stable environment, while a chip underneath supplies the microwave circuits needed to control and read the qubit. That combination, long coherence times paired with chip-based control, has made electron-on-neon a closely watched platform in quantum computing research.
What Problem Were the Researchers Trying to Solve?
Qubits can measure just a few nanometers across, and manufacturing them at that scale inevitably introduces random flaws in the material. In electron-on-neon devices, those flaws show up as tiny, uneven bumps on the neon surface. Electrons tend to get trapped in whichever bump happens to be nearby, so where a working qubit forms, and how well it performs, has largely been a matter of chance.
A study, published in the American Physical Society journal PRX Quantum, could help pave the way for more reproducible and scalable quantum computing technologies.
“Instead of hoping that the right nanoscale feature appears in the right place, we want to decide where each electron qubit sits,” said Professor Wei Guo, study co-author and mechanical engineering professor at Florida State University, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. “Magnetic levitation gives us a way to place a clean neon carrier above the chip, while the chip still provides the circuitry needed to control and read the qubit. In this architecture, the qubit is no longer found by chance. It is built by design.”
How Does the New Chip Design Work?
The researchers proposed a chip that uses superconducting loops to magnetically suspend tiny, nearly spherical neon microparticles above the chip’s surface. Rather than depositing a solid neon film directly onto the chip, where it inherits the substrate’s roughness, the design uses floating microparticles as clean carriers for individual electron qubits.
“A simple way to think about it is that we give the electron a tiny, clean, floating island to sit on, rather than asking it to find a good spot on a rough landscape,” said Yinghe Qi, study co-author and postdoctoral researcher at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. “The chip underneath still provides the microwave circuits needed to control and read the qubit.”
Why Does This Matter for Quantum Computing?
The design points toward a new class of hybrid quantum devices that pair ultraclean quantum materials with chip-based control circuits, an approach researchers have long sought but struggled to engineer reliably.
“We have not built a full quantum computer in this paper, but we showed that the essential ingredients can work together in a realistic design: clean electron confinement, tunable qubit energy levels, strong coupling to microwave circuits and a way for neighboring qubits to communicate,” Guo said.
What Advantage Does Levitation Offer Over Existing Qubit Designs?
To build a useful quantum computer, researchers need qubits that are clean, stable, controllable and practical to arrange in large numbers on a chip, a combination that’s difficult to achieve simultaneously. Electron-on-neon qubits have drawn interest because they can hold onto quantum information long enough to perform calculations while remaining relatively accurate. But that promise has been limited by the same random surface defects the new design targets.
“The main advantage is reproducibility,” said Yiming Xing, study co-author and researcher at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “Right now, useful electron-on-neon qubits depend on random nanoscale surface features, almost like hoping the right defect appears in the right place. Our approach replaces those random traps with designed, clean neon carriers placed at intended locations on a chip. If demonstrated experimentally, this could make electron-on-neon devices more predictable, reduce unwanted charge noise and make it easier to build larger arrays of qubits.”
What’s Next for the Research Team?
The design remains theoretical for now. The researchers’ next step is building a working prototype of an electron-on-neon qubit using this levitation architecture. The main components, superconducting loops, microwave resonators and patterned chip structures, are compatible with fabrication methods already used in quantum-device research, which the team says should help move the work from design to prototype.
Who Supported This Research?
Co-authors on the study included FSU postdoctoral researchers Sosuke Inui and Charles Peretti, along with Dafei Jin, an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame. The project received support from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the Florida State University Quantum Initiative. The FAMU Center for Quantum Science and Engineering supported Xing’s contributions and supported the Notre Dame team through the National Science Foundation’s ExpandQISE grant, administered by Florida A&M University.
Editor’s Note: This article was edited with a custom prompt for Claude Sonnet 5, an AI assistant created by Anthropic. The AI optimized the article for SEO/GEO discoverability, improved clarity, structure and readability while preserving the original reporting and factual content. All information and viewpoints remain those of the author and publication. This article was edited and fact-checked by college staff before being published. This disclosure is part of our commitment to transparency in our editorial process. Last edited: 8/20/2026.
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FAQ
An electron-on-neon qubit is a quantum bit made by trapping a single electron above the surface of solid neon. The neon’s purity provides a clean environment for the electron, while a chip beneath it supplies microwave circuits to control and read the qubit’s state.
Researchers at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory designed a chip architecture that uses magnetic levitation to hold tiny neon particles above the chip’s surface, giving each electron qubit a clean, precisely placed location rather than relying on random surface defects.
Manufacturing introduces random nanoscale bumps on a neon surface, and electrons tend to become trapped wherever those bumps happen to occur. That randomness makes qubit performance inconsistent across devices.
Magnetic levitation suspends clean, nearly spherical neon microparticles above the chip using superconducting loops. Each particle serves as a designated site for an electron qubit, eliminating dependence on random surface roughness.
Not yet. The design was proposed and analyzed in a study published in PRX Quantum. The research team’s next step is building a working prototype to test the architecture experimentally.
The study’s co-authors included Professor Wei Guo, Yinghe Qi and Assistant Professor Yiming Xing of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, along with FSU postdoctoral researchers Sosuke Inui and Charles Peretti, and Dafei Jin, an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame.