VCU Researchers Control Diamond Qubits With 200-Nanometer Magnets, Advancing Scalable Quantum Chips
Updated
Updated · VCU News · Jun 3
VCU Researchers Control Diamond Qubits With 200-Nanometer Magnets, Advancing Scalable Quantum Chips
1 articles · Updated · VCU News · Jun 3
Summary
Nature Communications published VCU work showing 200-nanometer nanomagnets can control electron spins in diamond qubits, a step toward packing many qubits onto one chip.
The approach replaces broad wire-antenna signals with magnet control driven by acoustic waves, letting researchers target qubits more precisely and reduce the spacing current spin-based systems require.
VCU said useful quantum machines need thousands of closely spaced qubits; the team reported the magnet-qubit pairing successfully altered the electrons’ quantum state.
Researchers said the method could improve energy efficiency, information retention and high-temperature operation, while also opening sensing applications in chemistry, biology and drug delivery.
Large-scale spin-based quantum computing remains unfinished, but the study addresses a core hardware bottleneck in making practical quantum computers.
In June 2026, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), led by Professor Jayasimha Atulasimha, made a major breakthrough in quantum computing by developing a new method to control many qubits on a single chip. Their innovation uses tiny, virus-sized nanomagnets to precisely manipulate diamond-based qubits, solving the key problem of packing qubits closely together while still controlling each one individually. This approach overcomes the limitations of previous methods that needed more space between qubits, and it is expected to speed up the creation of practical, large-scale quantum computers.