Abstract:

Our technological preference for perfection can only lead us so far. As traditional transistor-based electronics rapidly approach the atomic-scale, small amounts of disorder begin to have outsized negative effects. Surprisingly, a promising pathway out of this conundrum may emerge from recent efforts to embrace defects and construct quantum systems to enable new information technologies based on the quantum nature of the electron. Individual defects in materials possess an electronic spin state for manipulating, communicating, and storing quantum information at the level of single electrons and nuclei. We describe recent developments in manipulating and linking spins in both diamond and silicon carbide. These include opportunities to implement geometrically protected quantum gates, pathways towards high-fidelity processing within wafer-scale materials, and schemes to ‘wire’ spins using magnons and phonons.