Seminar: Dr Giordano Scappucci, QuTech, TU Delft

Presenter: Dr Giordano Scappucci (Group Leader, QuTech, Delft University of Technology)

Title: Materials frontiers to empower quantum computing

Abstract:
The success in obtaining materials of sufficient purity underpinned our ability to manipulate semiconductors into electronic devices. The availability of such “electronic-grade” materials are at the basis of the information age. To empower quantum computing, we need to extend our understanding of materials functionality from electronic grade to “quantum-grade”. This is even more pressing as academics around the world have completed heroic proof of principle experiments of testing the reality of quantum mechanics and we are moving into the next phase of engineering qubit systems in the large numbers required for useful quantum computing. We know the material science behind a good transistor: what are the physical and structural requirements of materials that will enable qubits for the quantum information age of tomorrow?

In this seminar, I will describe our research activities at QuTech into the Si/Ge material system to empower quantum computing. Si and Ge are compatible with advanced semiconductor manufacturing, are isotopically engineered into nuclear spin-free materials achieving long quantum coherence with spins, and can be combined into SiGe heterostructures with a large parameter space, providing avenues for new quantum electronic devices. As such, the Si/Ge material system is well-positioned to bridge the gap between our electronic-grade and quantum-grade understanding of materials science and drive progress in this crucial phase of quantum computing. In a nutshell, our research on Si/Ge materials at QuTech has contributed to provide first answers to the following questions, ranging from technological to basic science: can we make industrial qubits? How do we connect qubits and scale up their number? Can we devise new materials and concepts for the next generation of quantum hardware?

Biography:
Giordano has a multidisciplinary expertise in semiconductors that has enabled him to span the boundaries between materials, chemistry, nanofabrication, and physics. In his early research he made high quality Si/SiGe epitaxial layers to study quantum phenomena in silicon nanowire transistors. In Australia, he contributed to the development of an atomic-scale technology to fabricate devices where dopants are placed in silicon and germanium with atomic precision.  Back to Europe in 2015, and back to SiGe heterostructures, the goal if his research group is to tailor the structural and electronic properties of SiGe heterostructures for applications in quantum technologies. He is a principal investigator in the QuTech/Intel partnership to accelerate the development of a quantum computer in silicon.

Recent publications:
·      N. Hendrickx et al, Fast two-qubit logic with holes in germanium,  ArXiv:1904.11443, Nature
·      G. Zheng et al, Rapid gate-based spin read-out in silicon using an on-chip resonator, Nature Nanotechnology 14, 742 (2019)
·      A. Sammak et al, Shallow and Undoped Germanium Quantum Wells: A Playground for Spin and Hybrid Quantum Technology, Advanced Functional Materials 1807613 (2019).
·      N. Samkharadze et al, Strong spin-photon coupling in silicon, Science 359, 1123 (2018).