Helium—the lightest atom that can be laser-cooled and controlled—powers a new design for high-powered, stable quantum computers.

In a paper published in PRX Quantum, a team led by University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Physics Department Associate Professor Jacob Covey outlined a new concept that could turn helium’s light weight into the next generation of quantum computers.

Once built, the computer could use high-powered lasers as “optical tweezers” to capture and control individual helium atoms, the second-lightest element overall and the lightest that can be trapped with current technology. This offers a major advance over designs based on lithium, the third-lightest element.