Dr. Song Moojune (left) and professor Kim Kab-Jin of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) are two members of the joint research team with the U.S. that performed the study. (KAIST)

By Charles Audouin
Photos = Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

A joint research team with the U.S. has verified the main technology for the use of magnets in quantum computing operations.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) on May 7 said the team led by its physics professor Kim Kab-Jin held a joint study with Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to develop a photon-magnon hybrid chip capable of multi-pulse interference in real time.

This was the world's first experiment showing how magnets can be used as key components for quantum computing calculations, which are better than those of conventional computers.

Photon-magnon hybrid chips developed by Korean and U.S. researchers

The team developed a chip using both light and magnons to send signals between distant magnets and observed multi-pulse interference in real time. Magnons are a type of material that transfers energy via collection vibration of spin groups inside a magnet.

Installing a superconducting resonator between two magnets and sending microwave signals enabled lossless signal transmission. The team also said the interference pattern of magnons generated inside the magnets could be arbitrarily controlled by adjusting the frequency of signals and time intervals between them.

Kim said, "This is expected to be a turning point for the development of highly efficient quantum information processing devices."

The study's results were published in the international academic journals NPJ Spintronics on April 1 and Nature Communications on April 17.

caudouin@korea.kr