The study shows STO exhibits electro-optic effects 40 times stronger than current leading materials and performs exceptionally at the ultra-cold temperatures required for quantum computing—near absolute zero. Anderson's team also discovered that STO is the most piezoelectrically tunable material known at low temperatures, with potential applications in space exploration.
Anderson and colleagues also optimized STO's performance by substituting oxygen isotopes into the crystal structure.
“By adding just two neutrons to exactly 33 percent of the oxygen atoms in the material, the resulting tunability increased by a factor of four,” Anderson noted. “We precisely tuned our recipe to get the best possible performance.”
The research, funded in part by Samsung and Google's quantum computing team, could help overcome current bottlenecks in quantum technologies.
Despite being a common material often used as a diamond substitute in jewelry, STO had never been studied in this cryogenic, electrically controlled optical context—unlocking a wide range of future applications.
Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations