Quantum materials just got a major jolt. Dutch researchers have shown, for the first time, that ultra-narrow strips of germanene, the lesser-known cousin of grapheme, have their quantum states switched on and off purely with an electric field.
The work opens a new path toward creating stable, noise-resistant building blocks for future quantum computers.
The team from the University of Twente and Utrecht University demonstrated that the “topological” end states that appear in germanene nanoribbons just a few atoms wide can be toggled by adjusting the local field strength.
Germanene behaves like graphene but is made of a single layer of germanium atoms arranged in a slightly wavy sheet.
When sliced into extremely narrow ribbons, just 2 to 4 hexagons across, it produces zero-dimensional topological states at the edges.
Researchers believe these edge states could function as more stable qubit components because they retain quantum information better than conventional quantum states.
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