Question: What materials have you made for the quantum computers? Also, how did you make the materials?

Struan Simpson answered on 10 Mar 2020:

The materials I’m making fall under the branch of “quantum materials” – these are materials in which quantum physics plays a big role in how they behave, in particular how subatomic particles like electrons interact with each other and produce really weird and unexpected properties.

As to how I make them, I weigh out and mix together different chemicals and use a press to turn it into a solid pellet. I then put this pellet in a glass tube and seal the tube in the middle with a hot blowtorch, before putting it in a furnace and heating it to temperatures above 1000 °C. We need to heat it to these temperatures to make sure the chemicals react together to make what we want. Once it’s finished “baking”, I cut open the glass tube and remove my pellet so I can do some measurements on it and make sure it’s the correct thing!