Diamond “defects” improve the performance of quantum bits

An international research project coordinated by Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies of the National Research Council (CNR-IFN) studied defects within diamond which demonstrate great promise as quantum bits, the building blocks for quantum technologies such as quantum computing and sensing.

The scientific discovery was published in the journal Nano Letters, and investigates the nitrogen vacancy defect, an atomic scale impurity in diamond’s carbon lattice: its added value as a quantum bit is its “coherence time,” the length of time the qubit maintains its useful quantum properties. Since the nitrogen vacancy has a particularly long coherence time, it allows for efficient quantum computing and sensitive detection of tiny biomolecules.

The study was funded by the European project “LasIonDef”, coordinated by Eaton, and involved doctoral students from Cardiff University, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, University of Torino, Ulm University, University of Insubria and Politecnico di Milano.