Author: Andrew See

UNSW to offer world first bachelors degree in quantum engineering

UNSW Sydney has introduced the world’s first undergraduate degree in quantum engineering, in response to a growing need for a workforce that can help Australia share in a multi-billion dollar industry.

The Bachelor of Quantum Engineering (Honours) will train students in advanced electronics and telecommunication engineering, specialising in how to design and control complex quantum systems. The degree will cover nanoelectronics, microwave engineering and quantum technologies for advanced sensors, secure communications and computing.

The program has its earliest origins in the quantum devices and quantum communications courses first developed by Andrea Morello and Rob Malaney around 12 years ago, but expansion of this curriculum in more recent years (and in years to come) and revision to make content accessible to undergraduate students, along with strong support form the School’s education team, has paved the way to grow it into its current form.

UNSW media release link

Operation of a Si quantum processor unit cell above 1K

A proof-of-concept published today in Nature has demonstrated a silicon quantum computing chip that operates at higher temperatures than ever before. The proof of concept device demonstrates a way to reduce the cost of cooling by orders of magnitude and is a significant step towards overcoming one of the fundamental roadblocks to building a practical quantum computer.

As with the majority of the work conducted by Professor Dzurak’s team, these devices are built with ANFF-NSW’s Silicon-MOS fabrication line, using similar processes to those currently used to produce conventional computing components. This means there are already production lines in place that can be adapted to produce the new QC components at scale, using existing semiconductor foundries once these devices are perfected.

The work has already been featured on the ABC website  and in IEEE Spectrum.

UNSW media release link

Top 50 most read Nature Communications articles in physics

Quantum computing researchers lead by Professor Dzurak (ANFF-NSW Director & ARC Laureate Fellow), were recognized in Nature Communication’s annual “Top 50 Physics Articles”. Their paper “Single-Spin Qubits in Isotopically Enriched Silicon at Low Magnetic Field.” R. Zhao et al., Nature Communications 10 2019 was recognise at 25th position.

Nature [link]

We’re ready to help the response to COVID-19

ANFF is reassigning components of its equipment portfolio of 500+ fabrication tools to prioritise work essential to critical COVID-19 operations.

If you are working to fight the COVID-19 crisis, please contact ANFF to see if there’s anything we can do – assistance can be provided.

ANFF is a Government-funded IP neutral environment spread across 20 sites in Australia.

In addition to R&D assistance, we can be used to fill temporary supply gaps for replacement parts using novel 3D printing, laser scanning, laser cutting, CNC micromilling and far more.

If there might be something we can do to help, please contact our dedicated address: FightingCOVID@anff.org.au.

If you know someone working in this space, download this flyer and send it on.

Click here to see how our teams are already helping by 3D printing face masks to provide protection against the virus.

Engineers crack 58-year-old puzzle on way to quantum breakthrough

Quantum engineers from UNSW Sydney have created artificial atoms in silicon chips that offer improved stability for quantum computing.

Andrea Morello’s group has received significant media attention for their Nature paper published today (12/03/20), which reports how the nucleus of a single atom can be controlled using only electric fields, first suggested in 1961 but never previously demonstrated experimentally.

This device was fabricated largely at ANFF-NSW at UNSW, using our advanced EBL tools and SiMOS process line.

Nature publication link:
Science Magazine link:
Click here to read the UNSW release