Quantum computers, sensors, and other advanced technologies depend heavily on the behavior of electrons, especially the way they spin. One of the most precise approaches for high-performance quantum systems uses the spin characteristics of electrons in atoms held within a gas. These gaseous setups offer exceptional accuracy but are extremely difficult to scale into larger quantum devices, including full quantum computers. A research team from Penn State and Colorado State has now shown that a gold cluster can imitate the behavior of these trapped gas-phase atoms, making it possible to access similar spin properties in a format that can be expanded far more easily.
“For the first time, we show that gold nanoclusters have the same key spin properties as the current state-of-the-art methods for quantum information systems,” said Ken Knappenberger, department head and professor of chemistry in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and leader of the research team. “Excitingly, we can also manipulate an important property called spin polarization in these clusters, which is usually fixed in a material. These clusters can be easily synthesized in relatively large quantities, making this work a promising proof-of-concept that gold clusters could be used to support a variety of quantum applications.”
The work, described in two papers published in ACS Central Science and The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, confirms the spin behavior of the gold clusters in detail.
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