Qubit will accommodate TU/e’s first underground laboratories, future inhabitant Servaas Kokkelmans says enthusiastically. Kokkelmans is a quantum physicist in the CQT group and scientific director of the Center for Quantum Materials and Technology Eindhoven (QT/e, the quantum branch of the Eindhoven Hendrik Casimir Institute). In the latter capacity, he was closely involved with the realization of the new building. “Qubit will be much larger below ground level than it seems from the outside, no less than 640 square meters.” This construction has been made possible in part thanks to a financial contribution from Quantum Delta NL, a partnership between quantum research centers in the Netherlands, which was awarded over 600 million euros from the National Growth Fund last year.

“Quantum Delta NL pays a quarter of the costs,” Kokkelmans says. “We weren’t allowed to build more than three floors above ground, but there was more space available below ground level.” As it turned out, that took quite some effort technically speaking, he explains. “The soil on campus is quite soggy.” That’s also the reason, Kokkelmans says, why the current TU/e terrain, which is only at a walking distance from the city center, was still available as a construction site when the Eindhoven University of Technology was founded. “Until that time, it was practically impossible to build here due to the damp soil. This is also why they placed a dam wall around the construction pit, fortified with a construction made of metal pipes, to drain the surface when construction activities for Qubit commenced. Naturally, we didn’t want Flux to subside as a result of construction activities.”

The part of the building above the ground, which will be connected to Flux via a footbridge, won’t just have office spaces, but a reception area as well. “That area will be furnished in the atmosphere of Quantum Delta NL. This is where we will receive guests from other universities and from companies, and where we will introduce students and school children to quantum technology.”

X-rays

In the meantime, the actual work will take place below ground, safely shielded from the building’s surroundings. “We need a very stable environment for our experiments with ultracold atoms and ions, without too many vibrations and fluctuations in temperature and humidity,” Kokkelmans explains. “That is why the floor is extra thick, for example.” Researchers at CQT also work with setups for X-ray generation. “Particularly in the Smartlight project from my colleagues Jom Luiten and Peter Mutsaers. Naturally, it’s important that radiation doesn’t leak into the environment; that’s another reason why an underground lab is very practical.”