New X-ray Technique Helps Scientists Watch Quantum Materials Respond to Laser Pulses

Insider Brief

• Argonne researchers developed an X-ray imaging technique to track silicon carbide’s response to ultrafast laser pulses, providing insights that could improve the precision of creating quantum defects.
• The measurements revealed energy moving through the crystal as fast mechanical waves and more slowly dispersing heat, capturing changes across its surface and into its interior.
• The technique could help researchers refine laser conditions to create more reliable defects for use as qubits, though precise placement remains a long-term goal.
• Image: In a new technique developed at Argonne, an X-ray beam is directed at silicon carbide at a controlled time after the material is struck by a pulse of laser light. The X-ray acts like a camera, letting scientists see in real time how the material responds to the laser. (Haidan Wen/Argonne National Laboratory)

PRESS RELEASE — Creating a quantum device often begins by intentionally damaging a crystal.

Scientists fire an ultrafast laser pulse into a material, knocking atoms out of place and leaving behind tiny imperfections called vacancies. Far from being flaws, these vacancies can behave as qubits — the fundamental building blocks of quantum information.