Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK have found a way to make 'single-crystal flake' devices that are so thin and free of defects, they have the potential to outperform components used today in quantum computer circuits.
The study is published this month in the journal Nano Letters.
The team from the university's Department of Physics made its discovery while exploring the junction between two layers of the superconductor niobium diselenide (NbSe2) after these layers had been cleaved apart, twisted about 30 degrees with respect to one another, then stamped back together. In cleaving, twisting and recombining the two layers, the researchers were able to build a Superconducting Quantum Interferometer Device (SQUID) – an extremely sensitive sensor used to measure incredibly tiny magnetic fields.
SQUIDs have a wide range of important applications in areas that include healthcare (as seen in cardiology and magnetoencephalography—a test that maps brain function) and mineral exploration.
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