A team of researchers from the US and Singapore recently reported that magnetic skyrmions show great potential in providing a new approach to quantum computing. The team includes experts from the California Institute of Technology and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The group found that skyrmions may serve as qubits that are both stable and scalable. Skyrmions are quasiparticles that form when the local orientation of a magnetic material’s atomic spin deviates from that of the background, according to an APS Physics definition.
The researchers published Physical Review Letters in which they detail how stabilizing skyrmions in magnetic nanodisks bounded by electrical contacts provide a new approach to quantum computing and could aid its efforts. The user would be able to change the helicity between two energetically favored levels that act as different states for the qubit. The researchers are still conducting work to identify materials that possess the right magnetic configuration and geometrical frustration to host the qubits. The new materials will likely emerge and advance with additional investigations and research into the skyrmions.
Read More: Skyrmions Could Offer (Yet Another) Approach to Quantum Computing