Quantum computers, getting closer
2006/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh --Pennsylvania-- has created a 10-nanometer semiconductor that integrates Germanium over silicon. These small islands, known as quantum dots, are able to store a simple electron.
This advance is another step in the creation of quantum computers. Quantum computers are going to revolutionize, because they will turn all current cryptography systems upside down and will be able to liberate the Schrödinger equation. But for this it is necessary to build bits composed of a single electron, which is what is being done in Pittsburgh. The electron continuously rotates in two possible directions -- in favor of the clockwise, or counter-clockwise. This direction in which the electron rotates is called spin. Once the electron is inserted into the quantum point, the electron spin replaces the current bit value 0 or 1.
Quantum bit-based computers will be extremely fast and efficient, depending on the properties of quantum mechanics, as the electron spin can take two values at once, so the quantum bit can simultaneously take values 0 and 1.
