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FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers contribute to landmark study demonstrating ultra-low noise levels in innovative qubit platform
Florida State University and FAMU-FSU College of Engineering faculty members Wei Guo and Xianjing Zhou are part of a multi-institution research team whose latest findings advance one of the most promising platforms in quantum computing. A novel qubit—the fundamental building block of quantum information processing—invented at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory exhibits noise levels thousands of times lower than those of most traditional qubits. The study was published in Nature Electronics.
Noise refers to disturbances in the environment that diminish a qubit’s performance. The platform is built by trapping single electrons on the surface of frozen neon gas, and the recent findings position it as a strong contender in the field of high-performance quantum technologies.
The new study was jointly led by Argonne and the University of Notre Dame. Collaborating institutions included the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Northeastern University and Florida State University.
“In previous work, we demonstrated the outstanding performance of our electron-on-neon qubit,” said Xu Han, an Argonne scientist and co-corresponding author. “By thoroughly characterizing the qubit’s noise properties, this latest study shows why its performance is so good. Our results prove that our technology is promising for quantum information processing at larger scales.”
Quantum Computing: Potentially Transformative, But Challenged by Noise
Today’s computers and smartphones run on bits—tiny switches that can be either 0 or 1. Quantum computers use a special kind of bit known as qubits that can be 0 and 1 at the same time. What’s more, the state of one qubit can instantly affect another qubit’s state, even if they are on opposite sides of the planet. Many different types of physical objects can be used to build qubits, including electrons, photons and loops of wire.
The remarkable properties of qubits can endow quantum computers with exponentially greater computational power than that of classical computers. This opens the door to solving challenging problems like inventing disease-curing drugs and optimizing complex supply chains.
Yet quantum computers are still an emerging technology. Qubits are extremely sensitive to noise—tiny disturbances in the environment such as electromagnetic fields, heat and particle vibrations. As a result, qubits tend to have short coherence times, meaning they can only retain information for a fraction of a second. This makes quantum computers very error-prone.
Most of today’s chip-based qubits are made of semiconducting or superconducting materials. In experiments, industry-leading qubit platforms have performed reasonably well. However, qubits based on both semiconducting and superconducting materials are often challenged by noise from material defects, embedded charges and fabrication variability. The electron-on-neon qubit has the potential to address these limitations.
Solid Neon Is Less Noisy
In 2022, Argonne scientists at the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) invented a fundamentally new type of qubit made by freezing neon gas into a solid and spraying electrons from a light bulb filament onto the solid. A special electrode traps a single electron just above the neon’s surface. The electron serves as the qubit, with the electron’s motion in space representing the qubit’s 0 and 1 states. An important part of the platform is a device called a resonator that sends out microwave pulses to control and measure the qubit’s state.
A follow-up Argonne-led study in 2024 found that the electron-on-neon qubit can attain a coherence time of 0.1 milliseconds—nearly a thousand times better than the previous record for conventional semiconducting qubits and competitive with the highest-performing superconducting qubits. The study also demonstrated the qubit’s high gate fidelity, a measure of how accurately the qubit can control quantum information processing.
When it comes to noise, solid neon is inherently much quieter than semiconducting and superconducting materials because it is chemically inert and free of impurities.
A Systematic Noise Characterization
The present study evaluated the platform’s quietness with a systematic noise characterization performed at the CNM. This involved directing carefully timed sequences of microwave pulses through the resonator at various frequencies to manipulate the qubit and probe noise in its local environment.
“There’s a particular frequency called the ‘sweet spot’ where the electron qubit becomes relatively insensitive to nearby electrical noise,” said Dafei Jin, the research project leader and now an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame. “However, in this work, we intentionally looked at frequencies outside this sweet spot. This enabled us to investigate how the solid-neon environment disturbs the qubit and to compare it with other materials.”
The study team found that the noise in the neon qubit platform is 10–10,000 times lower than that in most semiconducting qubits and rivals the lowest semiconductor noise records. The scientists also discovered some limited noise due to stray electrons and unevenness in the neon surface.
“We have begun follow-up work to mitigate this noise and further optimize the qubit,” said Jin.
In addition to its excellent noise properties, the neon qubit has other advantages. Relative to semiconducting and superconducting qubits, it has a much simpler, lower-cost fabrication process.
A Growing Quantum Hub in Tallahassee
Guo’s participation in this research reflects a broader investment in quantum science taking shape at the college. The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, in partnership with Florida A&M University, is establishing the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, slated to open in 2026 at the Engineering Village at Innovation Park in Tallahassee, near the joint college. The center will support interdisciplinary research across physics, materials science, computer science and engineering, with access to an IBM quantum computer and dedicated labs for nanofabrication and quantum chip design.
These capabilities are directly relevant to the kind of qubit development described in this study. Guo co-directs the center alongside Bayaner Arigong; each received a $5 million National Science Foundation ExpandQISE Track II grant, two of only five such awards made nationally at that funding level.
The study’s authors included Xu Han and Yizhong Huang at Argonne; Xinhao Li, who was at Argonne when the research was conducted; Yutian Wen at the University of Notre Dame; Christopher S. Wang and Brennan Dizdar at the University of Chicago; Wei Guo and Xianjing Zhou at FSU and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering; and Xufeng Zhang at Northeastern University.
The research was supported by DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Argonne’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development program, Julian Schwinger Foundation for Physics Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Science Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program, and the France and Chicago Collaborating in the Sciences program.
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