New Wake Forest quantum lab takes research to the next level - Wake Forest University

Main Content Research & Discovery New Wake Forest quantum lab takes research to the next level Designed to support tech innovations, NanoteQ offers ultra-clean room for creating computer microchips and expanded, advanced microscopy and spectroscopy lab September 22, 2026 | by Alicia Roberts Mihirangi Medahinne, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics, studies quantum computing in the new NanoteQ lab. HIGHLIGHTS The Nano and Quantum Technologies Laboratory features an ISO 5-certified cleanroom and an advanced spectroscopy facility. Led by physics professor David Carroll, NanoteQ is driving breakthrough research into silicon-based qubits and room-temperature quantum processors. NanoteQ provides hands-on, high-level research opportunities for students and aims to accelerate cross-disciplinary quantum computing research and commercial innovation. With the debut of its new Nano and Quantum Technologies Laboratory (NanoteQ), Wake Forest University gains a critical edge in quantum computing research. NanoteQ includes the University’s first ISO 5-certified clean room. And that provides the tightly controlled space needed for creating and studying the silicon-based qubits that make quantum computing possible. The facility hosts cross-disciplinary research by undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs and faculty, as well as guest scientists and corporate partners. David Carroll, NanoteQ director “Physics is becoming the physics of information, and this laboratory is going to play a deeper and deeper role,” said David Carroll, Wake Forest physics professor and NanoteQ director. “We can form the nexus, the hub of the people in computer science, physics, chemistry.” Carroll’s research focuses on developing novel materials and technologies, including quantum processors that operate at room temperature. Previous quantum computing has required an environment cooler than deep space to operate. Campus and corporate collaborations NanoteQ is the evolution of Carroll’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, a facility he ran at Wake Forest for more than 25 years. The work there has yielded more than 40 global patents and pending applications for technologies including Power Felt, a material that converts body heat into electrical current to charge devices; and FIPEL, efficient lighting made from light-emitting plastics. It also has led to several commercial spin-offs. The latest, Quoherent, creates quantum processing at room temperature—to one day make it possible to hold that level of computing power in the palm of your hand. “NanoteQ has a fantastic collection of equipment that is crucial to doing work at these scales, and exploring the quantum properties of materials,” said Alton Reich, Quoherent co-founder and COO. “We’ll be able to drive this to the point where you’ll have a handful of quantum bits in your cell phone doing quantum AI, and you don’t need to go to the cloud. It’s very exciting stuff.” The company has the bulk of its operations in Winston-Salem, with its scientists working at NanoteQ. Carroll is both co-founder and chief technology officer. Building regional partnerships to share technology NanoteQ also opens its doors to regional businesses and scholars who need specialized technologies. NASCAR and Alcoa have tested materials in the lab. Two standalone companies that license Wake Forest technologies, NanoSoft Polymers and Virtue Labs, currently work out of the NanoteQ site. The lab has become an important partner in Wake Forest chemistry professor Mallory Green’s research, too. She uses lasers to determine the explicit “fingerprint” of chiral molecules such as amino acids, the building blocks of life. Understanding how chiral molecules work is important, because they have either a “left-handed” or “right-handed” orientation that guides their actions. Carroll and the NanoteQ lab have shared equipment with the Green lab to enable the construction of new spectroscopic instruments. “We have plans to work together to study an effect called chiral-induced spin selectivity, going even one step smaller,” she said. “This effect is believed to be linked to the development of life processes. It’s also an effect that holds a lot of promise for future quantum technologies.” Supporting undergraduate research Recent Wake Forest graduate Alli Swyt joined Carroll’s research group during her sophomore year. She said having access to such cutting-edge tools made a significant impact on her experience. She studied how to use circuits to calibrate magnetic force microscopy (MFM) for reading and measuring the topographical and magnetic properties of nanoscale materials. Researchers use MFM in characterizing quantum nanomaterials for next-generation electronics, one focus of Carroll’s lab. “I was designing and performing lithography to make these circuits and also did a lot of MFM imaging for the purpose of this calibration,” Swyt explained. “I’m not sure what the coolest thing I did was, but the thing that I enjoyed the most was building the circuits with lithography.” She received her bachelor’s degree in physics in May, and then headed to Germany for a summer internship that Carroll helped arrange. Developing tomorrow’s technology The NanoteQ lab’s high-level cleanroom supports deeper research, reducing the possibility of environmental contamination. Such contamination can hinder the ability to reproduce results in research. However, reproducibility is crucial to proving hypotheses so a scientist can move on to the next step in creating a marketable technology.

In North Carolina, fewer than a half-dozen universities, including Wake Forest, host a certified ISO 5 cleanroom for research. Fewer than 100 universities nationwide operate ISO 5 cleanrooms. Such facilities are specialized, and few have the capabilities to address the needs of quantum circuits. Experts with NCInnovation, a statewide public-private partnership to help turn university research into market-ready technologies, say having a facility at that level helps move research theories into reality much more quickly. “We work with university faculty to move research toward commercial use, and the same bottleneck comes up again and again. A team has a real discovery but cannot produce data clean enough or consistent enough for a partner to trust,” said Trillitye Paulen, an NCInnovation regional entrepreneur-in-residence. “An ISO 5 cleanroom and advanced spectroscopy fix that together, one by controlling the environment and the other by proving what the team actually built. “That combination will not turn every idea into a product, but it removes a common reason good science stalls on campus and puts faculty in front of industry partners years earlier.” It also offers undergraduate students the opportunity to train on cutting-edge technology and opens up more opportunities for innovative research for faculty, post-docs and graduate students, said Kimberley McAllister, Wake Forest’s vice provost for research, scholarly inquiry and creative activity. Categories: Research & Discovery Share Media Contact Alicia Roberts Enable JavaScript to view this email address 336.758.5237 Related posts: Chemistry professor wins NSF CAREER Award for work with lasers Center for Functional Materials Research Day celebrates innovation and collaboration WFU physicists, physiologists and physicians developing promising technology to prevent ‘device thrombosis’ Recent News View All Headlines The art heist paradox: Why better police work can lead to more stolen masterpieces The art heist paradox: Why better police work can lead to more stolen masterpieces Temperature measurement error may cause climate-impact studies to understate impacts by 15% or more Temperature measurement error may cause climate-impact studies to understate impacts by 15% or more Wake Forest partners with Historic Bethabara Park to save 18th-century artifacts Wake Forest partners with Historic Bethabara Park to save 18th-century artifacts