In a world of cutting-edge technologies that often come from original laboratories and exotic materials, a group of scientists have made a shocking discovery hidden in sight: ordinary clay may be the key to the next generation of quantum computers. This discovery allows traditional wisdom to be on its head and can significantly reshape the future of quantum technology.
This revelation comes from researchers at Norwegian NTNU, who discovered that vermill is a clay mineral and is therefore used in garden soil and home insulation materials, which can be used in garden soil and home insulation when processed into a nano-thick sheet. Their research, published on May 13 in NPJ 2D Materials and Applications, is read like science fiction, but represents a realistic science that can democratize access to quantum technology.
Professor Jon Otto Fossum of the Department of Physics in NTNU said: “We discovered a naturally occurring clay material with a sought-after quantum nature.”
From the Garden Center to the Quantum Frontier
Disconnecting is shocking: The same materials used in gardening of Bagful may drive future computers to perform calculations that will allow today’s fastest supercomputers to be completed in thousands of years. Just like finding rocket fuel in tap water.
What makes this clay unique is its properties rarely found in nature. When the researchers separated the vermill into impossible thin sheets, they found that it acts as a semiconductor with properties similar to synthetic materials that are thousands of times more expensive to produce. More obviously, clay exhibits anti-ferromagnetic behavior, a special magnetism that is crucial to advanced quantum information processing.
Lead author Barbara Pacáková cuts down on the technical terminology: “What we found is essentially a quantum active ingredient formed by nature. It is stable, non-toxic, rich, and appears in structures that are already available, especially exciting in the context of sustainable materials.”
Nature’s Quantum Gift Challenges Technology Orthodox Education
These implications not only make quantum technology cheaper. This discovery challenges the fundamental assumption in the technological world: only flawless synthetic materials can power next-generation computing.
The team developed a clever way to extract these quantum properties, using organic solvents to divide clay into thin sheets, to nearly two-dimensional. In this form, the material reveals that semiconductor capabilities are comparable to nitride guns and other synthetic materials currently powering high-performance electronics.
- Ultra-thin structure: These clay sheets run on quantum scales and are only 100,000 times thick (100,000 times thinner than human hair)
- Broadband Gap: Semiconductor properties of clay (3.3-3.9 eV) competitors expensive synthetic materials
- Quantum magnetic state: The material’s anti-ferromagnetic properties can realize a completely new information processing method
Silicon Valley is not ready yet
Despite its revolutionary potential, don’t expect clay-based quantum computers on store shelves soon. The quantum properties of this material only occur under certain conditions and there are considerable challenges before practical applications.
“The material is not ferromagnetic at room temperature, either,” Fossum admits. “But its characteristics suggest that the material may influence future technologies, such as mimicking the rotation of the human brain, photonics, magnetic sensors and computers.”
Researchers cannot simply scup from the ground and build quantum processors. Vermills must be carefully treated in a controlled environment. However, the clay pathway represents a simpler approach than the extraordinary measures required to create synthetic quantum materials.
The revolution of scientific thinking
Perhaps most importantly, this discovery challenges how to establish a scientific paradigm to understand where we should look for advanced materials.
“Our lab has a special approach,” Fossum explains. “We are looking for not only the perfect material created in the lab, but also the natural material that can be used as well. This allows us to identify this material.”
This philosophy – looking at nature rather than fighting nature may also represent a profound change in the way scientists develop technology. With concerns about the sustainability of technology, finding quantum capabilities in abundance of natural materials could change the way we will be the most advanced equipment tomorrow.
International collaborative research involves teams from Norway, Brazil, France and the Czech Republic, showing how to push scientific boundaries in unexpected directions.
In a world obsessed with artificial worlds, it is ironic that the future of our most advanced technology may have been built from one of the most basic substances on Earth. Sometimes the most revolutionary discovery is not about creating something new, but about seeing new potential in the new potential under our feet.
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