Quantum Computing, No Cooling Required: Room-Temperature Quantum Bits Store Data for Nearly Two Seconds

Jul 4, 2012 by Journal of Analytical and Bioanalytical Techniques

 

Using a pair of impurities in ultra-pure, laboratory-grown diamonds, the researchers were able to create quantum bits and store information in them for nearly two seconds, an increase of nearly six orders of magnitude over the life span of earlier systems. The work, described in the June 8 issue of Science, is a critical first step in the eventual construction of a functional quantum computer, and has a host of other potential applications.

“What we’ve been able to achieve in terms of control is quite unprecedented,” Lukin said. “We have a qubit, at room temperature, that we can measure with very high efficiency and fidelity. We can encode data in it, and we can store it for a relatively long time. We believe this work is limited only by technical issues, so it looks feasible to increase the life span into the range of hours. At that point, a host of real-world applications become possible.”\

“This research is an important step forward in research toward one day building a practical quantum computer.”