Quantum computers\u00a0could\u00a0one day solve problems beyond the reach of even the world\u2019s most powerful supercomputers, accelerating everything from drug discovery to the development of advanced materials and cleaner energy technologies.<\/p>\n
But the fragile quantum states that\u00a0make\u00a0such machines possible are notoriously easy to disrupt.\u00a0Even tiny changes in the environment \u2013\u00a0such as stray radio waves, small fluctuations in temperature or slight physical vibrations\u00a0\u2013 can\u00a0interfere with\u00a0calculations, introduce\u00a0errors\u00a0and disrupt quantum coherence.<\/p>\n
To help address this challenge,\u00a0Assistant Professor of\u00a0Physics<\/a>\u00a0Han Zhao<\/a>\u00a0is developing\u00a0a new approach\u00a0that combines superconducting quantum systems with nanomechanical devices to make quantum operations\u00a0more\u00a0resistant\u00a0to\u00a0noise and\u00a0errors.<\/p>\n Supporting New Quantum Research<\/p>\n \u201cThe future of quantum computing will be its real-world\u00a0breakthrough\u00a0applications in science and the economy,\u201d\u00a0Zhao says. \u201cSo\u00a0it is absolutely true that practical quantum computers need to address the fragility of quantum states.\u201d<\/p>\n The project\u00a0is\u00a0supported\u00a0through the\u00a0highly\u00a0competitive\u00a0Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award program, which provides seed funding to early-career faculty conducting research in science and engineering. The funding\u00a0supports\u00a0graduate student research and the acquisition of specialized superconducting quantum hardware used in the experiments. The project will also\u00a0leverage\u00a0UCF\u2019s nanofabrication facilities and quantum research infrastructure, including advanced waveform control systems and superconducting quantum hardware.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most inspiring aspect of receiving the award for me is to know that the scientific merit of the proposed research received extremely positive recognition in the community,\u201d Zhao says. \u201cThis means our lab is on the right track to\u00a0accomplish\u00a0research of high importance. We are also grateful for the support of getting students involved in advanced experimental quantum research.\u201d<\/p>\n Entangling Quantum States Through Braids<\/p>\n There are\u00a0generally two\u00a0approaches to mitigate error rates in quantum computing, Zhao says. The first is\u00a0quantum error correction (QEC), which uses multiple physical qubits\u00a0(the basic unit of quantum information)\u00a0to\u00a0protect\u00a0logical qubits, the\u00a0encoded\u00a0units\u00a0of\u00a0quantum\u00a0information used for\u00a0computation. However, QEC\u00a0requires\u00a0substantial hardware resources.<\/p>\n Zhao\u2019s research explores an alternative approach that seeks to make quantum operations themselves more resistant to noise and errors. His efforts focus on developing a more fault-tolerant method for quantum entanglement using superconducting quantum systems and nanomechanical devices operating at temperatures near absolute zero.<\/p>\n At the center of the project are tiny mechanical resonators\u00a0\u2014\u00a0microscopic vibrating structures capable of interacting with microwave signals inside superconducting quantum circuits. By carefully controlling these interactions, Zhao aims to create a topological \u201cbraiding\u201d process in which quantum states cyclically exchange\u00a0properties\u00a0in a predictable and stable way.<\/p>\n Unlike\u00a0conventional\u00a0quantum operations that rely on extremely precise control sequences, the braiding process is designed to be inherently more resistant to environmental noise and small operational errors. Because the\u00a0process depends more on the overall\u00a0pattern of the interaction rather than every exact microscopic detail, the approach could help reduce the impact of noise and small hardware imperfections.\u00a0Zhao compares the process to tying a shoelace.<\/p>\n \u201cBraiding means winding multiple strands to form or undo knots,\u201d Zhao says. \u201cThe formation of a knot, like\u00a0how you tie a\u00a0shoelace, does not need to be exact every time and can tolerate large wiggle room for the strands to deviate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, imagine\u00a0the strands\u00a0as the evolution of the quantum excitations and the knots as the entangled quantum states,\u201d he continues.\u00a0\u201cThe process of achieving a certain\u00a0quantum state, i.e., the knot, can have various wiggles\u00a0due to noise and control imperfection,\u00a0but\u00a0as long as\u00a0it\u00a0follows a certain pattern, it\u00a0will result in a high-fidelity quantum operation. And this certain pattern is dictated by the intrinsic topology of the engineered interaction between superconducting quantum circuits and the mechanical resonators in an open quantum system.\u201d<\/p>\n A Stable Quantum State at Absolute Zero<\/p>\n To perform these experiments, Zhao\u2019s lab uses superconducting quantum systems inside a specialized dilution refrigerator.\u00a0Operating at these extreme temperatures helps\u00a0eliminate\u00a0thermal noise that would otherwise disrupt delicate quantum behavior. The refrigerator, which cools the system to just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, creates the ultra-stable environment needed for superconducting circuits and quantum mechanical interactions to function reliably.<\/p>\n Within this environment, Zhao\u2019s team studies how microwave signals and tiny vibrating mechanical resonators can exchange quantum information through carefully controlled interactions.<\/p>\n Traditionally,\u00a0researchers\u00a0have\u00a0sought\u00a0to\u00a0isolate\u00a0quantum systems from\u00a0the\u00a0external\u00a0environment as much as possible when\u00a0building\u00a0quantum computers, says Zhao.\u00a0However, these physical systems are constantly interacting with their\u00a0environment\u00a0and\u00a0should be used to generate new ways of thinking about\u00a0the methods\u00a0of quantum information processing.<\/p>\n \u201cPractically, the ultimate success will be a big step towards a fault-tolerant quantum computing that solves problems beyond the capability of modern computing technology\u00a0for applications in quantum simulations, complicated optimizations in relevance with the global economy and information security,\u201d\u00a0Zhao says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insider Brief Assistant Professor\u00a0Han Zhao is developing a new method that uses tiny mechanical vibrations and superconducting systems…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[85,46,370,141],"class_list":["post-521554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-physics","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-physics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Zhao-and-Grads-at-Terminal-2Z7A1011-full.jpg\")
Han Zhao (center) reviews experimental data with graduate students as they test a topological \u201cbraiding\u201d approach to make quantum operations more resistant to noise. (Photo by Antoine Hart)<\/p>\n![\"Han](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Zhao-at-Terminal-Alone-2Z7A0998-full.jpg\")
Han Zhao checks instrument controls and reviews control sequences on a laptop during setup of experiments funded by the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. (Photo by Antoine Hart)<\/p>\n