The researchers succeeded in extending the lifetime of magnons (which are quantum particles that propagate through magnetic materials as spin waves) by a factor of one hundred, from just a few hundred nanoseconds to up to 18 microseconds. This dramatic improvement makes magnons far more viable as carriers of quantum information.
A Promising Technology for Future Chips
Magnonic systems offer clear advantages over conventional electronics: they consume significantly less energy, generate virtually no heat, and can be miniaturised down to the nanometre scale. This makes them an attractive candidate for future chip architectures, including those comparable in size to today’s smartphone components. In addition, magnons can interact naturally with other quasi-particles such as photons and phonons. This property makes them highly suitable for hybrid quantum systems, where different physical platforms are combined to perform computation, communication and sensing tasks.
From Material Science to Quantum Applications
The Viennese team achieved this breakthrough by exciting short-wavelength magnons that are less sensitive to material imperfections, while cooling the magnetic material close to absolute zero. Their findings suggest that the lifetime of magnons is not fundamentally limited by physics, but rather by the quality of the material itself. This insight opens the door to further improvements through advanced material engineering.
A Missing Link for Scalable Quantum Computing
With their significantly extended lifetime, magnons can now be considered robust and reliable carriers of quantum information. They could serve as quantum memories or low-loss communication links, enabling efficient connections between large numbers of qubits—one of the key challenges in building scalable quantum computers.
Austria’s Strength in Quantum Innovation
This achievement underlines Austria’s long-standing excellence in quantum science, building on a tradition that includes Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger. Today, institutions such as the University of Vienna, the University of Innsbruck and the Austrian Academy of Sciences continue to drive cutting-edge research with global relevance. Austria remains firmly positioned among the world’s leading quantum ecosystems and continues to deliver pioneering contributions for future oriented technological advancement.
