Oak Ridge purifies silicon-28 to 99.9999% to help build better qubits

[DrewMcIntyre_OG]

Better qubits can start with purer materials, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory has set a new standard. Quantum Zeitgeist reports that ORNL has produced silane gas containing 99.9999 percent silicon-28

Ordinary silicon contains isotopes such as silicon-29, which carry magnetic spins that disturb qubits. In this material, silicon-29 and germanium-73 contaminants are below one part per million

ORNL says the purity is at least 100 times higher than any commercial source in the world. The work won a Department of Energy Secretary's Achievement Award and supports a domestic supply chain for the US Genesis Mission

Laboratory director Stephen Streiffer said achievements like these show the value of national laboratories. The article is short and based on a press release, so detailed figures on cost and output are not available

Silicon spin qubits depend on a quiet magnetic environment, so purer silicon should mean qubits that hold their information for longer. Having a reliable supply of such material could become important as companies try to scale up. It is a nice reminder that quantum progress depends on chemistry and materials science as well as physics

How much could purer materials improve qubit quality? And should countries build their own quantum supply chains?

Energy Department Lab Isotope Purification Cuts Quantum Device Contaminants To One In A Millionquantumzeitgeist.com

[MachoMan07]

Companies like Quantum Motion and Diraq will be watching. Purer substrates could lift coherence times noticeably. That makes error correction cheaper. Everything connects in the end

[Luke98]

National labs doing this kind of patient work is exactly their purpose. Private companies rarely invest in slow materials research

Public funding fills that gap. The award is well deserved. Long term projects like this pay off for decades