February 28, 2025 -- Today the Dutch Research Council NWO announced that Menno Veldhorst will receive a Vici grant. The grant is aimed at researchers with academic qualities that clearly exceed what is customary and demonstrate the development of leadership and mentorship skills.

The aim of the NWO Talent Programme is to provide creative space for adventurous, talented, pioneering researchers to do research of their choice, develop their own line of research and further develop their talent. Grants from the programme enable scientists to conduct research of their own choice. This gives innovative research a boost and facilitates career progression at scientific research institutes. The Vici grants are for senior researchers who have already demonstrated the ability to develop their own line of research.

Veldhorst: “I am grateful to receive a Vici grant, which allows me to explore a new research direction. I am particularly curious to investigate whether quantum dots can be built and stacked like LEGO blocks to control quantum information in three dimensions.”

Controlling spins in three dimensions to emulate nature

Single electron spins confined in semiconductor quantum dots offer a promising platform for quantum computation and simulation. The Veldhorst group was the first to realise a two-dimensional qubit array. Going beyond two dimensions represents a radical innovation but may have profound implications for quantum computation and quantum simulation.

Building three-dimensional quantum dot arrays

Veldhorst proposes expanding into the third dimension by stacking quantum dots in multilayer structures: “We discovered that quantum dots stacked in different layers can be independently controlled. Now we want to build upon this and construct novel qubits with high connectivity. We also aim to explore quantum simulations with these stacked quantum dots, which may have large potential, as nature lives in three dimensions.”

Menno Veldhorst is group leader of the Veldhorst Lab and Research Lead of QuTech’s Quantum Computing Division.