#argonnequantum

One of the year's biggest discoveries was controlling magnons, or atomic magnetic spin vibrations. Argonne researchers developed a real-time chip approach for manipulating these waves. Magnons can store and exchange information with virtually perfect interference, replicating qubit behaviour in contrast to electrical signals, thanks to the stability of magnetic materials like YIG. By upgrading the boosted Photon Source (APS) in 2024–2025 to become the world's brightest synchrotron X-ray source, Argonne scientists boosted material science: Using sophisticated computer modelling to generate molecular qubits with atomic precision simplified the trial-and-error stage of material discovery. Building on earlier work, researchers upgraded 'colour centres', single-atom flaws in silicon carbide, to lengthen coherence periods to record lengths, a key component of quantum memory. Researchers have found new properties in magnesium oxide that make it a practical quantum information storage medium. Distribution Quantum Networking (Q-NEXT) Revitalising Q-NEXT signalled a move towards distributed quantum entanglement. Argonne's 2025 accomplishments included the "Chicago Quantum Network," a city-scale testbed. Researchers have demonstrated distributed algorithms that use many CPUs. By using quantum interconnects, they moved closer to a “Quantum Internet” that would allow quantum computers in different buildings or cities to work together. To simplify this, Argonne established the open-source SeQUeNCe simulator to properly mimic photonic quantum networks before building the hardware. To bridge the gap between classical and quantum computing, Argonne's Aurora exascale supercomputer acquired full operational capacity in 2025. Researchers used trillion-atom light-matter simulations with Aurora to “see” quantum materials on a never-before-seen scale. The following simulation advances were significant: The new mathematical technique called the QuCLEAR Framework optimises quantum circuits by dramatically lowering their “gate count,” making them efficient enough to run on today's “noisy” quantum hardware. Shadow Tomography: Researchers used Aurora to use “shadows and cutting” techniques to estimate quantum states without measuring each particle, which requires exponential time. Physical Quantum Sensing Argonne advancements in 2025 changed computers and sensing. The scientists harnessed quantum entanglement to construct sensors that could detect faint signals. These sensors are being tested for: Medical imaging: nanoscale magnetic field variations in biological tissue. Basic Physics: Finding dark matter and detecting gravitational fluctuations with “unprecedented precision”.