Articles

Niobium Wire: From MRI Magnets to Quantum Computer Qubits

Niobium, with the highest superconducting transition temperature of any pure metal, is the material underpinning MRI scanners, particle accelerators and the ITER fusion reactor through its NbTi and Nb₃Sn alloy wires. It is also the dominant electrode material in Josephson junctions — the quantum-mechanical switches that form the core of superconducting qubits. This article traces niobium’s role across applied superconductivity and explains the material properties driving recent advances in quantum computing research.