From Crystals to Qubits: A Glimpse Into the Quantum Future at San José State

On April 22, a quantum computing seminar at San José State University opened not with equations, but with a sense of occasion. Electrical Engineering Professor Hiu-Yung Wong welcomed attendees and introduced the featured speaker, Nobel Laureate John Martinis, setting the tone for a talk that would move between the invisible world of atoms and the very tangible future of computing.

San José State President CynthiaTeniente-Matson followed with video remarks that framed the event as both a milestone and a promise. She highlighted the university's growing investment in quantum technology, emphasizing hands-on programs in sensing, computation and communication hardware. Students, she noted, are already making their mark - winning competitions, landing jobs at cutting-edge firms and preparing to shape what comes next.

"Partnerships with researchers like Martinis reflect a broader mission: translating world-class science into public good," said President Teniente-Matson.

When Martinis took the stage, he began with something deceptively simple: a quartz crystal. At the microscopic level, he explained, atoms arrange themselves according to the rules of quantum mechanics. Yet that tiny, orderly behavior scales up, producing the visible structure of a crystal. It's a reminder that quantum physics is not confined to the abstract; it quietly underpins the material world.

From there, the talk took a turn into stranger territory. Under the right conditions, Martinis said, quantum effects can appear in larger, even "macroscopic," systems. In everyday life, a ball thrown at a wall bounces back. But in the quantum world, there is an almost unimaginably small chance it could pass straight through. While such events rarely occur in ordinary objects, carefully engineered electronic circuits can reveal this behavior.

Professor Wong sees the presence of a Nobel laureate on campus as a clear signal of the high regard the scientific community holds for SJSU students. It reflects a faculty commitment that extends beyond career preparation, actively connecting students to advanced research that expands their potential impact.

"His visit highlights the growing importance of quantum technology research and education at SJSU within the emerging quantum ecosystem," commented Professor Wong.

For students focused on semiconductor manufacturing, Martinis's visit was transformative - highlighting the emerging field of quantum hardware manufacturing and opening paths that might otherwise have remained unexplored.

For Junipero Verbeke, '27 MS Electrical Engineering, the visit from Nobel-caliber physicist Martinis was a powerful signal that SJSU students are recognized and valued by the broader scientific community. He views it as a reflection of faculty who are committed not only to preparing students for successful careers, but also to immersing them in cutting-edge research that expands their sense of possibility. As a student focused on semiconductor manufacturing, Verbeke found that hearing Martinis speak did more than inform him; it reshaped his ambitions, introducing him to the frontier of quantum hardware and a path he had not previously imagined.

"John Martinis' [collaborations] with companies to innovate the American semiconductor manufacturing sector inspired me to take a bigger part in launching U.S. hardware manufacturing to new heights," said Junipero.

Martinis described experiments using superconducting circuits, devices cooled to temperatures near absolute zero where electrical currents flow without resistance. In these systems, quantum effects like "tunneling" can be observed directly. The setup is delicate, requiring extreme isolation from noise and precise control, but the payoff is profound: Evidence that quantum rules can govern not just particles, but engineered systems.

That insight forms the backbone of quantum computing. Unlike classical bits, which are either 0 or 1, quantum bits can exist in multiple states at once, enabling a kind of parallel processing that scales exponentially. Martinis pointed to recent breakthroughs, including a 53-qubit system capable of performing calculations beyond the reach of traditional supercomputers.

Still, the road ahead is steep. Building useful quantum machines will require not just scientific insight, but industrial-scale innovation, new manufacturing methods, materials, and original ways of thinking about computation itself.

If the seminar offered a single takeaway, it was this: Quantum computing is no longer a distant theory. It is an unfolding reality, shaped as much by today's students and engineers as by the physics that first imagined it.