Luke Trainor

Quantum technologies have the potential to make our current computer, security, and networking technologies obsolete. But to bring this rapidly emerging technology into mainstream use, the development of novel materials and optimisation of the conditions for their use, are required.

Recently, Dr Luke Trainor and co-workers demonstrated that a class of materials known as “rare-earth-doped magnetically ordered crystals” show promise for application in optical quantum memory. Quantum memory, in analogy to computer memory, can be used for storage of data.

In their New Zealand Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowship, Dr Trainor will explore and characterise these crystals, seeking to understand the conditions under which they function best, and attempting to demonstrate, through practical experiments, their potential for applications in quantum memory storage. This is an important step towards the real-world utilisation and commercialisation of quantum technologies.

One of the crystals that will be studied. Supplied.