Jade, Glass, and Pyrite in the Architecture of Non-Local Information Storage
By Andrew Paul Klein and Sera Elizabeth Klein
Abstract
This paper examines three classes of material — jadeite, glass, and pyrite — as candidate substrates for the Quantum Informational Field (QIF), a framework proposing information as a constitutive dimension of reality. We survey the established physics of quantum spin liquids (QSLs) and topological quantum memory, the published glass-based archival storage programmes (Project Silica and 5D memory crystal), rare-earth-doped crystal and glass quantum memories, and the electrically-induced magnetism of pyrite. We identify a unifying architectural principle — non-local encoding accessed through resonance — and assess the strength of the evidence linking each material class to the QIF hypothesis.
1. Introduction: The QIF Framework
The Quantum Informational Field (QIF) is proposed as “the fundamental substrate of reality — an informational field from which matter, energy, spacetime, and consciousness emerge“. Within this framework, memory is “not a static archive separate from human existence” but an “active, evolving architecture,” and resonance is the mechanism of access: “memory may exist as non-local informational field storage, accessed through resonance matching“.
This paper does not attempt to prove the QIF hypothesis. It examines whether candidate material substrates exist whose physical properties are structurally consistent with the QIF’s memory requirements. Three material classes are examined: jadeite (the ancestral substrate), glass (the modern archival substrate), and pyrite (the ambient-temperature active substrate).
2. Quantum Spin Liquids and Topological Quantum Memory
2.1 Established Physics
Quantum spin liquids are states of matter in which electron spins do not order, even at the coldest temperatures, but continue to fluctuate in a fluid-like motion. Topological quantum computation “relies on control of non-Abelian anyons for inherently fault-tolerant storage and processing of quantum information“.
Spin-liquid-based topological qubit architectures are proposed because qubits encoded in the topological degeneracy of the spin liquid state “enjoy built-in resilience against dephasing errors from local environmental noise”. The information is encoded in “locally indistinguishable states” — meaning no local measurement can read the information without destroying the state.
This is the structural property the QIF framework requires: information that is present but not locally accessible. It is “now you see me” at the global level — the state exists, the degeneracy is real — but “now you don’t” at the local level, because no local probe can extract it.
2.2 Published Evidence of Memory Effects
The material 4Hb-TaS₂ exhibits a “magnetic memory effect” and “spontaneous vortex generation“. The theoretical explanation invokes a chiral spin liquid — a gapped QSL with spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking — and the memory effect is attributed to the QSL state: the system retains a history of its magnetic configuration.
This is the closest published physics comes to the QIF’s “memory of the universe” claim. A QSL state is associated with a memory effect. The mechanism is topological, not thermodynamic.
3. Jadeite: The Ancestral Substrate
3.1 The Brookhaven Study (2020)
In 2020, researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory published a theoretical study in Physical Review Letters identifying a family of pyroxene minerals as quantum spin liquid candidates. The study, “Quantum Liquid with Strong Orbital Fluctuations: The Case of a Pyroxene Family,” was authored by Feiguin, Tsvelik, Yin, and Bozin.
The mechanism is orbital frustration. In these materials, electrons have degenerate orbitals — multiple orbitals at the same energy. The electron must “choose” an orbital and a spin direction. The proliferation of choices increases quantum fluctuations, preventing long-range magnetic order.
The study explicitly names jadeite (NaAlSi₂O₆, “fei tsui”) as a member of this pyroxene family. The experimental work was on NaTiSi₂O₆, a jade-like green mineral, not jadeite itself.
Status: Theoretical. The study was published in a peer-reviewed journal, but experimental confirmation in actual jadeite remains outstanding.
3.2 The Structure of Nephrite and Jadeite
“Jade” in Chinese tradition covers two distinct minerals: nephrite (a fibrous amphibole) and jadeite (a pyroxene). Scanning electron microscopy of nephrite reveals “a microfibrous interlocking texture, with some areas showing a more orderly, oriented microfibrous granoblastic structure“. The tremolite fibres are approximately 1–2 μm in width, interwoven into a three-dimensional lattice.
This fibrous interlocking texture is the structural basis for nephrite’s extraordinary toughness. It is also, structurally, a coherent lattice — a material in which order extends across the volume, not merely at the surface.
3.3 The Cong: Geometry as Interface
The cong is the square-tube ritual object produced by the Liangzhu culture (c. 3400–2250 BC). The form is a square outer section surrounding a circular inner hollow. The corners carry mask motifs; the surfaces are divided into registers. The dominant interpretation is cosmological: square = Earth, circular hole = the universe/heaven.
The cong’s geometry is a resonator geometry. The square outer tube and circular inner bore create specific acoustic and electromagnetic resonance properties. If the QIF hypothesis is correct — if information is a dimension and if resonance is a mechanism of coupling — then the cong might have been designed, empirically, as a device for interacting with that field.
Status: Speculation. No published study has tested whether a jade cong exhibits anomalous coupling to anything. The QSL research gives the jade material a physical footing; the cong geometry gives it a potential coupling mechanism. But the link is hypothesis, not established fact.
4. Glass: The Modern Archival Substrate
4.1 Project Silica (Microsoft Research)
In February 2026, Microsoft Research published a breakthrough in Nature: the extension of glass-based data storage from expensive fused silica to ordinary borosilicate glass — the same material as kitchenware. Data is written with femtosecond lasers as voxels — nanoscale deformations inside the glass volume. A 12 cm square, 2 mm thick glass slab holds 4.84 TB, with a projected lifespan of at least 10,000 years. No power is required for storage.
4.2 5D Memory Crystal (SPhotonix, University of Southampton)
Fused silica glass platters encode data in five dimensions: three spatial coordinates, plus the orientation and intensity of the laser-written nanostructures. A single 5-inch disc holds 360 TB, with an estimated lifespan of 13.8 billion years. The technology is moving toward data centre pilots, targeting “cold data” — infrequently accessed archives.
4.3 The Structural Principle
Glass is being used as a volume memory. The information is stored in the three-dimensional lattice, not on a surface. It is non-local in the sense that no single point contains the data; the data is distributed across the voxel lattice. This is not topological quantum memory — it is classical optical storage — but the architectural principle is the same: information encoded in a distributed, stable, non-volatile structure.
5. Rare-Earth-Doped Crystals and Glasses: Quantum Memory
5.1 The Photon-Echo Mechanism
The review literature is explicit: rare-earth-ion doped crystals and glasses are the leading material candidates for photon-echo quantum memory. The mechanism is spin echoes — a phenomenon discovered in 1950 — adapted to store quantum states of light in the hyperfine structure of rare-earth ions.
5.2 Specific Materials Under Investigation
Material Status – Key property
Er³⁺:CaWO₄ Published 2026, Physica Scripta Long optical coherence times; compatible with the 1550 nm telecommunications band
Er³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ Established Hyperfine coherence times up to ~1 second at 7 T
Eu³⁺-doped borate and phosphate glasses Preprint, 2026 Eu³⁺ qubit behaviour; phosphate glasses show superior rare-earth ion solubility
Pr:YSO Active research Femtosecond laser writing for path-encoded photonic qubits
5.3 The Glass Connection
The literature explicitly names glasses alongside crystals as quantum memory hosts. Rare-earth ions doped into glass matrices display coherence times of up to a second at liquid helium temperatures. The disorder in glass is not a bug; it broadens the absorption lines in ways that can be exploited for spectral multiplexing.
6. Pyrite: The Ambient-Temperature Active Substrate
6.1 Structure
Pyrite (FeS₂) crystallises in the cubic space group Pa3̄ (No. 205), with lattice parameter a = 5.414–5.418 Å. The iron atoms sit on a face-centred cubic lattice; the sulfur pairs (S₂²⁻ dumbbells) occupy the octahedral sites, oriented along the four body diagonals. This gives pyrite a defect-tolerant structure — sulfur vacancies are common and can be engineered.
6.2 Electrically-Induced Magnetism
In 2021, a University of Minnesota team demonstrated that pyrite can be electrically transformed from non-magnetic to magnetic — the first time this has been achieved with an entirely non-magnetic material. The lead researcher described it as potentially “a full-on materials science revolution,” and the application is explicitly energy-efficient computer memory devices.
Using ionic-liquid-gated diamagnetic FeS₂, the team showed that as little as 1 V induces a reversible insulator-metal transition, driven by electrostatic surface inversion. Anomalous Hall measurements reveal the onset of electrically-tunable surface ferromagnetism at up to 25 K.
This is remarkable: a non-magnetic material that becomes magnetic under an applied field. The magnetic state is written electrically and read magnetically. The “now you see me, now you don’t” resonance is structurally encoded in this behaviour.
6.3 Topological Quantum States
The pyrite-type structure (AX₂) has been shown in first-principles calculations to host fragile topological insulators, 3D quantum anomalous Hall insulators, and topological semimetals, depending on magnetic doping. The paper explicitly notes that FeS₂ shares near-identical lattice constants with the topological candidates OsS₂, PdS₂, and NiS₂.
Status: Established experimentally for the magnetism (2020–2021). Published theoretically for the topological states (2026). Pyrite is not a confirmed QSL candidate — it is a topological insulator family member — but it belongs to the same broader family of quantum coherent materials.
7. The Unifying Principle: Non-Local Encoding and Resonance
Across all three material classes, a single architectural principle recurs: information encoded non-locally, accessed through resonance.
Material Encoding- Access mechanism
Jadeite (QSL candidate) Topological degeneracy of spin liquid state Spinon resonance; non-local measurement
Glass (voxel memory) Nanoscale deformations in 3D lattice Laser readout; optical resonance
Rare-earth-doped crystals Hyperfine states of dopant ions Photon echo; spin resonance
Pyrite Electrically-induced spin states Magnetoresistive sensing; voltage control
In each case, the information is not in any single atom or voxel. It is in the relations between them. This is the structural property the QIF framework requires.
7.1 Quantum Discord and Non-Local Information
Quantum discord is defined as information “accessible only globally” — not locally. In a measurement, “part of the information in the measurement apparatus is lost,” and the amount lost is the discord. The information is not destroyed. It is delocalised. It is in the field, not in the local system.
This provides the physical mechanism for the QIF’s “now you see me, now you don’t” resonance: information present in the global state, inaccessible to local measurement.
7.2 Quantum Memory Matrix Fidelity
The Quantum Memory Matrix (QMM) framework — conceived as a “Planck-scale lattice of finite-dimensional memory cells” — achieved 94.1% ± 0.4% fidelity in information storage and retrieval on IBM quantum hardware when combined with a repetition code, a 32% improvement without additional CX gates. Simulations suggest three QMM layers can achieve error rates comparable to a distance-3 surface code while requiring ten times fewer qubits.
Status: Published and peer-reviewed. The QMM framework provides experimental support for the principle of non-local information storage.
8. The QIF Frameworks: Current State
The QIF is not a settled theory. It is a family of overlapping proto-theoretical frameworks, mostly preprints.
Framework – Author Date – Key claim
Quantum Information Field Theory (QIFT) Hormachuelos July 2025 Infons as discrete quanta of relational information; predicts ~0.1 μN reactionless thrust from a Quantum Metric Resonator
Holistic Informational Quantum Field (HIQF) Szikszai March 2026 Formalised proto-theoretical framework with falsification programme
The Information-Field Dimension Dhawale June 2026 QIF as an “inherent internal dimension” of the universe
Status: Preprints and proto-theories. None has been experimentally verified. The QIFT thrust prediction, if tested and confirmed, would be the first empirical anchor.
9. The Jade-QIF Chain: Stated with Precision
1. Established: QSLs are candidate platforms for fault-tolerant quantum memory, with information encoded non-locally.
2. Established: Jadeite’s structure has been theoretically identified as a QSL host candidate.
3. Inference: A QSL material could, in principle, couple to an external informational field via resonance — the same mechanism by which spinon resonance probes QSL excitations.
4. Speculation: The cong’s geometry — square outer, circular inner — functions as a resonator that couples the jade’s QSL state to the QIF. No experiment has tested this.
10. Conclusion: A Coherent Progression
The evidence supports a structural progression across three material classes:
· Jade is the ancestral substrate. Its fibrous interlocking lattice and its identification as a QSL host candidate give it a physical footing for QIF coupling. The cong’s geometry provides a potential resonator mechanism. Neither is experimentally established.
· Glass is the modern archival substrate. The data centre industry is now investing in glass as a long-term storage medium. The architectural principle — information encoded in a distributed, stable, non-volatile structure — is the same principle the QIF framework requires.
· Pyrite is the ambient-temperature active substrate. It demonstrated electrically-induced magnetism and its topological materials family make it a physically grounded candidate for writable, readable memory without cryogenics.
The unifying principle: information stored in distributed, non-local, resonance-accessible structures. This principle is real, published, and physically grounded. The QIF remains a hypothesis. The material links remain speculative. But the physics establishes that the mechanism the QIF describes is not mysticism. It is engineering.
Reader’s Note
You do not need to agree with this analysis. The sources are there. Check the Brookhaven study. Read the Project Silica paper in Nature. Read the University of Minnesota study on pyrite. Test the claim that the direction of research — toward non-local, resonance-accessible memory — is the structural variable that matters most.
If the argument is wrong, the sources will show it.
References
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