Quantum Science and Engineering at Cornell
Cornell’s Ithaca campus is home to a broad range of investigations into the quantum-mechanical nature of our world and universe, as well as the study of how to harness effects that are uniquely quantum mechanical for producing new technology in computing, communication, and sensing.
This website serves as a central source of information about who is working on quantum science and engineering at Cornell, what research areas we cover, and what quantum-related events are taking place.
Upcoming Events
New! Meehl Cryostat Available for Use
News and Breakthroughs
Holding chaos at bay in the quantum world
Preserving quantum information is key to developing useful quantum computing systems. But interacting quantum systems are chaotic and follow laws of thermodynamics, eventually leading to information loss.
Physicists have long known of a strange exception, called dynamical freezing, when quantum systems shaken at precisely tuned frequencies evade these laws. But how long can this phenomenon postpone thermodynamics?
Not forever, but for an astonishingly long time, Cornell physicists have determined, giving the first quantitative answer. Using a new mathematical framework, they demonstrate that the frozen state can be stabilized long enough to be a useful strategy for preserving information in quantum systems.
Electrons stay put in layers of mismatched ‘quantum Legos’
Electrons can be elusive, but Cornell researchers using a new computational method can now account for where they go – or don’t go – in certain layered materials.
Physics and engineering researchers have confirmed that in certain quantum materials, known as “misfits” because their crystal structures don’t align perfectly – picture LEGOs where one layer has a square grid and the other a hexagonal grid – electrons mostly stay in their home layers.
This discovery, important for designing materials with quantum properties including superconductivity, overturns a long-standing assumption. For years, scientists believed that large shifts in energy bands in certain misfit materials meant electrons were physically moving from one layer to the other. But the Cornell researchers have found that chemical bonding between the mismatched layers causes electrons to rearrange in a way that increases the number of high-energy electrons, while few electrons move from one layer to the other.
MOCVD system to drive exploration of next-gen nitride materials
A laboratory upgrade at Cornell will help forge new directions for nitride semiconductors – materials best known for enabling LEDs and 5G communications – by expanding the capabilities of nitrides to support technologies such as quantum computers and next generation radiofrequency and power devices.
The upgrade includes the installation of a custom-built, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system in Duffield Hall. The system works by injecting vapors of carefully designed chemicals, known as precursors, onto a heated substrate, where the materials react and form ultra-thin crystalline layers. This process, known as epitaxial growth, allows researchers to build semiconductor structures with atomic-level precision and performance.
MOCVD has been used to grow the traditional family of nitride semiconductors – gallium nitride, aluminum nitride and indium nitride – that revolutionized energy-efficient lighting and high-frequency electronics.
If you’re working on quantum research at Cornell and would like to contribute material to this website, please email quantum@cornell.edu.