Quantum technology has promising potential to revolutionize how large and complex amounts of information are processed. While already in use primarily in laboratory and research settings globally, quantum technologies are in a transition phase for broader industry applications across many economic sectors.
In researching fundamental aspects of quantum physics, or the behavior of nature at the smallest scales — involving atoms, electrons and photons — a study led by Cal Poly Physics Department Lecturer Ian Powell analyzed how a changing magnetic field can make matter behave in unusual ways.
Powell and student researcher Louis Buchalter, who graduated with a Cal Poly bachelor's degree in physics in 2025, published the article "Flux-Switching Floquet Engineering" in the journal Physical Review B, highlighting how changing magnetic fields over time in time can create quantum states that do not exist in any stationary material (remaining in the same state as time elapses).
"On a big-picture level, I would describe this as an advance in our understanding of how time-dependent control can create and organize new forms of quantum matter," Powell said. "The central idea is that useful quantum properties can depend not just on what a material is, but on how it is driven in time. In our case, we show that periodically changing a magnetic field can produce driven quantum phases with no static counterpart."
By engineering new quantum behaviors by timing the field, physicists can potentially create technologies that are very stable and hard to disrupt by "noise" or imperfections that can interfere with quantum technology functionality and avoid system errors.
Admittedly, Powell said that it's difficult to describe the technical aspects of the study to non-physicists. But conceptually, research points to possible routes for engineering these kinds of exotic driven quantum states in controlled platforms such as ultracold-atom experiments.
"The most direct industry relevance of our study is to quantum computing and quantum simulation, rather than to a specific end-use sector at this stage," Powell said. "Any eventual impact on areas like pharmaceuticals, finance, manufacturing or aerospace would likely be indirect, by contributing to the longer-term development of better quantum technologies. To move toward industry use, the next steps would be experimental validation and further work connecting these ideas to realistic quantum-device platforms."
Applying principles of physics, the work also revealed a mathematical organizing rule that echoes patterns more commonly associated with higher-dimensional quantum systems, suggesting that relatively simple driven systems may offer a new way to study that kind of physics.
The research shows that the exotic driven phases can appear, but also uncovers a precise organizing rule for the topological phase diagram of the system, or a visual map that delineates distinct, stable quantum phases of matter based on unchanging topological numbers.
The use of physics principles in quantum mechanics leverages the ability of a computational system to process information more quickly, run massive simulations, and comprehensively analyze far more data than classical computing.
Magnetic fields are one of the main tools used to control and read out quantum bits (or qubits), the fundamental unit of information used in quantum technology. Qubits are comparable to the units of 0s and 1s in classicalcomputing (applied in commonplace computing currently) used to represent physical electrical states.
As a student researcher working alongside Powell, Buchalter said that co-authoring the article taught him "a lot about the process of conducting research and how new research findings are effectively communicated with the broader scientific community."
"I learned that research is rarely a straightforward process, often requiring persistence and creative problem solving during the course of a research project," Buchalter said. "I believe our results help demonstrate the power of Floquet engineering for realizing quantum systems with highly-tunable properties, paving the way for further research into periodically driven quantum matter and the development of its applications."
Buchalter plans to pursue a Master of Science degree in materials science and engineering at the University of Washington in the fall, and to conduct experimental research on quantum matter. He's considering pursuing a career at a national lab on the development of quantum devices after finishing his education.
"I initially took on the project due to my interest in condensed matter physics, however, I became fascinated with the field of quantum materials through my experience," Buchalter said. "I am very interested in continuing to study quantum matter and helping develop its applications in electronic and photonic devices."
