"Unconventional Quantum Advancements: From Junk to Gems in Qubit Breakthrough"

Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, ETH Zurich, and EPFL challenge the conventional belief that solid-state qubits require ultra-clean environments, as they discovered that dense arrays of qubits with long lifetimes can emerge in seemingly messy settings. Led by Gabriel Aeppli, the team densely packed rare-earth ions, specifically terbium, into yttrium lithium fluoride crystals, proposing a novel approach to quantum design that defies the minimalist principle of keeping it clean and clutter-free.