Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve been paying attention, you know the quantum computing revolution is coming — and so far the world has a mini quantum network, not to mention the $10,000 D-Wave One, to show for it. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and University College, London, have now developed the “first working quantum bit based on a single atom of silicon.” By measuring and manipulating the magnetic orientation, or spin, of an electron bound to a phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip, the scientists were able to both read and write information, forming a qubit, the basic unit of data for quantum computing.

The team used a silicon transistor, which detects the electron’s spin and captures its energy when the spin’s direction is “up.” Once the electron is in the transistor, scientists can change its spin state any way they choose, effectively “writing” information and giving them control of the quantum bit. The next step will be combing two qubits into a logic step, with the ultimate goal being a full-fledged quantum computer capable of crunching numbers, cracking encryption codes and modeling molecules that would put even supercomputers to shame. But, you know, baby steps.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Researchers create working quantum bit in silicon, pave way for PCs of the future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Register  |  UNSW Australia  | Email this | Comments

A common vision of the future has us with our feet up, while robots do all the work. Another one sees the end of silicon, with quantum computers doing all the heavy lifting. That second prophecy inches just a smidgen closer with the news of the world’s first quantum router. Developed at Tsinghau University in China, the router makes a quantum photon from two separate photons in different polarized states. At this point, things start to get a little, well, mind-bending, as they are wont to do in the quantum world. The net result, however, is one qubit of data being “routed” at a time. While this won’t be powering any serious networks anytime soon, the all important proof of concept is there, and we imagine, in a parallel universe simultaneously.

Filed under: Science

Scientists create first quantum router, but don’t throw your 802.11ac out yet originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  arXiv (pdf)  | Email this | Comments

Computers are normally limited by the fixed nature of their chipsets: once the silicon is out of the factory, its capabilities are forever locked in. The City College of New York and University of California Berkeley have jointly developed a technique that could break chips free of these prisons and speed along quantum computing. They found that hitting gallium arsenide with a laser light pattern aligns the spins of the atoms under the rays, creating a spintronic circuit that can re-map at a moment’s notice. The laser could be vital to quantum computers, which can depend heavily or exclusively on spintronics to work: a simple shine could get electrons storing a much wider range of numbers and consequently handling many more calculations at once. Research is only just now becoming public, however; even though gallium arsenide is common in modern technology, we’ll need to be patient before we find quantum PCs at the local big-box retail chain. Despite this, we could still be looking at an early step in a shift from computers with many single-purpose components to the abstracted, all-powerful quantum machines we’ve held in our science fiction dreams.

CCNY, UC Berkeley develop lasers that could rewrite quantum chips, spin those atoms right round originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 04:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  CCNY, Nature  | Email this | Comments