Physicists create powerful magnets to break the ice in quantum computing

Quantum computing has the potential to change the world, allowing large-scale computational problems in health and science to be solved faster than traditional computing. But quantum computers have a major drawback – they can only work at very low temperatures.

“In order to make quantum computers work, we cannot use them at room temperature,” said Ahmed El-Gendy, Ph.D., associate professor of physics at the University of Texas at El Paso. “That means we have to cool the computers and cool everything, which is very expensive.”

Now, physicists at the University of Texas at El Paso believe they have made a quantum leap in this matter. Led by El-Gendy, the team has developed magnetic quantum computing – 100 times faster than pure metal – that works at room temperature. The material is described in the summer issue of the magazine Applied Physics Letters.

Magnets are used in many modern applications, including smartphones, vehicles and solid state drives – where computer information is stored. In quantum computers, magnets are used to increase speed, Ahmed said, but their powerful properties only work at low temperatures. (Quantum computers, in fact, are currently kept at a cool 459 degrees Fahrenheit, just above zero.)

Since 2019, the UTEP team has worked to create new magnetic devices for quantum computing. In addition to working at normal temperatures, the team focused on magnets not made in rare earths.

“All magnets at the moment are made of rare earth elements, and we are in short supply,” El-Gendy said. “We will soon face the problem of not having the tools to make magnets in any industry. Imagine if we get to that point.”

After several years of trying to make mistakes, the group’s efforts paid off. The final winner was a mixture of materials known as aminoferrocene and graphene – and to El-Gendy’s surprise, this material exhibits very strong magnetism.

“I really doubted its magnetism, but our results clearly show high superparamagnetic behavior,” he said. “No one has prepared anything like this before. I think we can go and make a quantum computer at room temperature with this.”

But much work remains. The material was difficult to make and the team is now trying to expand the preparation process and continue to improve the efficiency of the material. They are also looking for collaborators working on quantum computing.

Additional authors on the study are UTEP Postdoctoral Researcher Yohannes Getahun, Ph.D.; Professor of Physics Felicia Manciu, Ph.D., and Chair and Professor of Physics Mark Pederson, Ph.D.