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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed a faster method to identify diamond defects suitable for quantum computers and sensors. While pure carbon diamond is not functional, specific defects are essential for creating qubits, which serve as the fundamental information-processing units. These defects occur when a carbon atom is missing, replaced by another element, or both. Traditionally, simulating these qubits has been computationally difficult, but Mark Martirez, a staff research scientist at PPPL, solved this by isolating small clusters of 16 to 30 atoms around the defect and treating them as simple molecules.

This new approach allows scientists to calculate the cost of modeling these defects similarly to studying a simple compound. Using this technique, researchers simulated how qubits respond to light and microwave pulses much faster than before. They discovered promising boron- and oxygen-based defects that emit blue and ultraviolet light, respectively. This contrasts with the more common nitrogen-vacancy defect, which emits red light. Martirez noted that combining different types of qubits could allow scientists to probe specific ones while ignoring others within a single device.

Martirez emphasized that understanding these qubits through chemistry rather than just physics could transform how they are designed, similar to creating custom medications. He suggested that practical multi-qubit systems would eventually improve the accuracy of quantum chemistry calculations for larger molecules like proteins. Additionally, he encouraged chemists to participate in solid-state physics research, arguing that their decades of intuition regarding chemical systems can be translated to understanding defects in solids.