Charles Black Leads C2QA Research On Scalable Quantum Computing

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Charles Black, named director of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) in June 2025, is leading a 28-institution effort to improve superconducting qubits through materials science. C2QA researchers have built tantalum-based transmon qubits with lifetimes exceeding one millisecond, described as the longest ever reported, and are pursuing silicon-compatible manufacturing for scalable quantum hardware.

Charles (Chuck) Black, director of the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, is leading a 28-institution national research effort to overcome the materials and manufacturing barriers standing between today’s quantum computers and practical, scalable systems. According to a report published by The Quantum Insider on September 30, 2026, Black — named C2QA director in June 2025 — is applying roughly three decades of nanoscale materials and semiconductor research, including work at IBM and Brookhaven’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials, to improve superconducting qubit performance and develop quantum hardware compatible with large-scale manufacturing.

C2QA is a National Quantum Information Science Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and led by Brookhaven National Laboratory. The center spans 28 institutions across national laboratories, academia, and industry, and according to the report focuses on breakthroughs in materials science and modular system architectures to enable scalable, fault-tolerant quantum systems.

A central strand of C2QA’s research involves replacing the conventional superconducting qubit materials — aluminum and niobium — with tantalum. Researchers at Princeton University, part of the center, built transmon qubits from tantalum because it has fewer of the oxidation states suspected of degrading qubit performance. Using characterization tools at Brookhaven’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) and the National Synchrotron Light Source II, the researchers studied how oxidation of tantalum’s surface affects performance. The report states the team achieved superconducting transmon qubits with lifetimes exceeding one millisecond, described as the longest ever reported.

Black’s path to the role draws on earlier career stages. He spent 1996 to 2006 as a research staff member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he and collaborators pioneered polymer self-assembly for semiconductor devices. He joined CFN at Brookhaven in 2006 as one of its first group leaders and led CFN as director from 2016 to 2025. He also serves as deputy associate laboratory director for Brookhaven’s Energy and Photon Sciences Directorate.

Why Materials Science May Decide Quantum Computing

The report frames C2QA’s work as an attempt to solve a problem that has slowed the superconducting qubit field for years: after more than a decade of development, transmons made from aluminum and niobium plateaued in performance, prompting physicists to ask whether the constituent materials themselves were the limiting factor. The tantalum results lend support to the idea that material substitution can produce measurable gains.

Black draws a direct analogy to the history of microelectronics. “I like remembering that the first transistors in microelectronics were made from germanium semiconductors, not silicon,” he said, adding: “Similarly, I wonder if it’s possible that aluminum and niobium are the ‘germaniums’ of quantum computing.” If improved materials combined with silicon-compatible manufacturing prove viable, the center’s work could influence how future quantum processors are produced at scale — a step the report identifies as necessary, since better qubits alone will not enable fault-tolerant machines.

From Harvard Superconductors to C2QA Leadership

Black worked with superconducting materials as a doctoral student at Harvard University, using them to explore fundamental physics questions, and did not expect to return to them professionally, according to the report. Superconductors — materials that conduct electricity without energy loss at very low temperatures — have since become a leading platform for quantum computing. “I feel like I’ve come full circle,” Black said.

C2QA launched in 2020, bringing together leading physicists — including the Yale University inventors of the superconducting transmon qubit — with materials scientists to investigate whether superconducting materials were limiting qubit performance. The center sits within the DOE’s broader National Quantum Information Science Research Center program. Black succeeded prior leadership in June 2025, after nearly two decades at CFN, where he worked with in-house experts and thousands of visiting researchers.

“I feel like I’ve come full circle.”

— Charles Black, director of C2QA

Open Questions in the Tantalum Approach

Several points remain unresolved. The claim that C2QA’s tantalum transmons are the world’s best-performing with the longest lifetimes ever reported comes from the center’s own account and has not been independently benchmarked in this report. Black’s suggestion that aluminum and niobium may be the “germaniums” of quantum computing is framed as a question, not a conclusion. It is also not yet clear whether tantalum-based qubits can be manufactured reliably at scale, whether the materials gains translate into fault-tolerant systems, or how C2QA’s silicon-compatible device approach will perform outside the laboratory. The report was truncated before detailing the center’s full collaboration plans and timeline.

C2QA’s Path to Fault Tolerance

According to the report, C2QA will continue pursuing quantum devices built with silicon-compatible materials that align with existing semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, with the aim of enabling future large-scale production. The center’s stated goal remains modular system architectures for scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computing, combining continued materials research at Brookhaven user facilities with work across its 28 partner institutions. Readers should watch for further peer-reviewed results from the tantalum qubit program and updates from DOE on the National Quantum Information Science Research Centers.

Key Questions

What is C2QA?

The Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage is a National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. Launched in 2020, it spans 28 institutions from national labs, academia, and industry.

Who is Charles Black?

Charles (Chuck) Black is a materials scientist who became C2QA director in June 2025. He previously led Brookhaven’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (2016–2025) and worked at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center (1996–2006).

Why is tantalum being used for qubits?

According to C2QA researchers, tantalum has fewer of the oxidation states suspected of degrading qubit performance than aluminum or niobium, the traditional superconducting qubit materials. Princeton researchers within C2QA built tantalum transmons that reportedly achieved lifetimes exceeding one millisecond.

Does better qubit performance mean practical quantum computers are near?

No. The report states that improving qubit performance alone will not enable scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computers; manufacturing quantum hardware at scale remains a separate, significant challenge.

Are C2QA’s record qubit claims independently verified?

The claim of world’s best-performing superconducting transmons comes from C2QA’s own reporting. Independent benchmarking details are not provided in the source material.

Source: rss