New quantum visualization technique to identify materials for next generation quantum computing

29 May 2025

Joe Carroll from the Quantum Matter research group, School of Physics, UCC along with collaborators have developed a powerful new tool for finding the next generation of materials needed for large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing. 

The significant breakthrough means that, for the first time, researchers have found a way to determine once and for all whether a material can effectively be used in certain quantum computing microchips.

The major findings have been publisheed in the academic journal Science - linked here:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady3202

Using equipment found in only three labs around the world, Joe Carroll and researchers were able to definitively determine whether Uranium ditelluride (UTe₂), which is a known superconductor, had the characteristics required to be an intrinsic topological superconductor. Physicists have been on the hunt for an intrinsic topological superconductor for decades, but no material ever discovered has ticked all the boxes.

Using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) operating in a new mode invented by Séamus Davis, Professor of Quantum Physics at UCC, a team led by Joe Carroll and Kuanysh Zhussupbekov, a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow, were able to conclude once and for all whether UTe₂ is the right sort of topological superconductor.

The group’s new work means that scientists can now find single materials to replace complicated circuits, potentially leading to greater efficiencies in quantum processors and allowing many more qubits on a single chip thus moving us closer to the next generation of quantum computing.  

Link to the article here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk7219 and further information can be found also at the following link: http://davis-group-quantum-matter-research.ie/publications.html.