Scientists pump up chances for quantum computing
Tuesday, 3 July 2018
University of ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ-led research has moved the world one step closer to reliable, high-performance quantum computing.
An international team has developed a ground-breaking single-electron “pump”. The electron pump device developed by the researchers can produce one billion electrons per second and uses quantum mechanics to control them one-by-one. And it’s so precise they have been able to use this device to measure the limitations of current electronics equipment.
This paves the way for future quantum information processing applications, including in defence, cybersecurity and encryption, and big data analysis.
“This research puts us one step closer to the holy grail - reliable, high-performance quantum computing,” says project leader , Senior Research Fellow, at the University of ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing.
Published in the journal , the researchers also report observations of electron behaviour that’s never been seen before – a key finding for those around the world working on quantum computing.
“Quantum computing, or more broadly quantum information processing, will allow us to solve problems that just won’t be possible under classical computing systems,” says Dr Tettamanzi.
“It operates at a scale that’s close to an atom and, at this scale, normal physics goes out the window and quantum mechanics comes into play.
“To indicate its potential computational power, conventional computing works on instructions and data written in a series of 1s and 0s – think about it as a series of on and off switches; in quantum co