Superconducting materials with broken time reversal symmetry and fractional-flux-quanta-based cryogenic computers

Research question

Data processing and computations are based on a realization of information-carriers: bits. The realization of bits is based on the nature of excitations in a material.   For example, magnetic excitation or ferroelectric excitations for magnetic or ferroelectric memory. Data processing in semiconductors is based on the control and manipulation of electric charges. We will investigate the  new kinds of excitations, which discovery was reported in SCIENCE 3 Vol 380, Issue 6651 pp. 1244-1247 (2023) : fractional vortices  that can be used to process and store information. We will explore  if these excitations could be controlled and manipulated at dramatically lower energy costs.

Sustainability aspects

Global digitization posed the unresolved problem of information technology’s environmental/climate impact. A paradigm shift in supercomputing is required  to limit the energy consumption of future data centers to reconcile the digitization and sustainability at the global  scale. A paradigm shift in supercomputing is required  to limit the energy consumption of future data centers to reconcile the digitization and sustainability at the global  scale. Such a paradigm shift can be enabled by shifting the data centers from semiconductor-material-based to superconducting-materials-based electronics.