UCF Physicist Uses Tiny Vibrations to Fight Quantum Errors

A University of Central Florida physicist is testing a way to make quantum computers less prone to errors, and the method borrows an idea from knot-tying. Assistant Professor Han Zhao announced the research on July 2, 2026, backed by a competitive faculty award. The work takes place in his UCF lab, where superconducting circuits run at temperatures close to absolute zero.

Why quantum states break down

Quantum computers could one day handle problems that overwhelm today’s fastest supercomputers, from drug discovery to designing cleaner energy systems. The trouble is that the quantum states behind these machines fall apart easily. Stray radio waves, small temperature swings, or a slight physical shake can corrupt a calculation. Zhao wants to build operations that shrug off that kind of interference.

According to a July 1 report, his project has funding from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, which supports early-career scientists. The money pays for graduate student research and specialized superconducting hardware. Zhao’s team also draws on UCF’s nanofabrication facilities and its waveform control systems. As Zhao explained:

“The future of quantum computing will be its real-world breakthrough applications in science and the economy. (…) So it is absolutely true that practical quantum computers need to address the fragility of quantum states.”

A knot that tolerates sloppiness

Researchers usually reduce errors with quantum error correction, which spreads one unit of information across many physical qubits. That approach works, but it demands a lot of hardware. Zhao is chasing a different path, where the operations themselves resist noise.

At the heart of the experiment sit tiny mechanical resonators, microscopic vibrating structures that can trade signals with microwave circuits. By controlling how they interact, Zhao creates a topological “braiding” process where quantum states swap properties in a steady, repeatable pattern. He compares it to tying a shoelace.

“Braiding means winding multiple strands to form or undo knots,” Zhao says. “The formation of a knot, like how you tie a shoelace, does not need to be exact every time and can tolerate large wiggle room for the strands to deviate.” As long as the interaction follows the right pattern, small imperfections don’t wreck the result.

The experiments run inside a dilution refrigerator that chills the system to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. That extreme cold removes thermal noise that would otherwise scramble the delicate quantum behavior. Zhao’s team studies how microwave signals and vibrating resonators pass quantum information back and forth under tight control.