Quantum Computing

The latest development in quantum computing might hold the key to taming qubits, the building blocks of quantum systems. Holding these elusive qubits in a controlled state for longer than nanoseconds has proven extremely difficult in the past but researchers have recently discovered a method could see their lifespan reach seconds if not tens of seconds.  Read More

Researchers from Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) and the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have created a microresonator that produces vibrations from laser light. The device also uses one laser beam to control the intensity of another, thus making it essentially an optical transistor. The technology could have big implications in fields such as telecommunications.  Read More

The strange behavior of quantum particles that gives quantum computers such potential also has its pitfalls. One of these is the loss of information through atomic particles escaping the system, but a new study has found that this may not be as big a problem as first thought.  Read More

Quantum cryptography has been around since the 1980's but up until now only very small packets of information have been able to be encrypted at one time. Now a breakthrough that identifies the angle and rotation of photon particles is taking this technology to the next level.  Read More

Physicists from the University of Oregon have successfully changed the color of individual photons within a fiber optic cable. They were able to do so by focusing a dual-color burst of light from two lasers onto an optical cable carrying a single photon of a distinct color. Through a process known as Bragg scattering, a small amount of energy was exchanged between the laser light and the photon, causing the photon to change color. The achievement could pave the way for transferring and receiving high volumes of secured electronic data.  Read More

In order for quantum computers to become a reality, it would be hugely helpful if scientists were able to supercool molecules. If a temperature of near absolute zero (-273C/-460F) could be achieved, then the oscillations associated with the molecules’ low energies could be used in the creation of quantum bits for use in quantum processors. Recently, researchers at Yale University got a step closer to that goal, by using laser light to cool molecules.  Read More

Research conducted at the University of Bristol means a number of quantum computing algorithms may soon be able to execute calculations of a complexity far beyond what today's computers allow us to do. The breakthrough involves the use of a specially designed optical chip to perform what's known as a "quantum walk" with two particles ... and it suggests the era of quantum computing may be approaching faster than the scientific establishment had predicted.  Read More

It’s a sign of the times when the speed of electrons moving through wires is seen as pedestrian, but that’s increasingly the case as technology moves towards the new world of optical communication and computing. Optical communication systems that use the speed of light as the signal are still controlled and limited by electrical signaling at the end. But physicists have now discovered a way to use a gallium arsenide nanodevice as a signal processor at “terahertz” speeds that could help end the bottleneck.  Read More

An international team of researchers from the University of Surrey, UCL, Heriot-Watt University and the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics have used infra-red laser to obtain precise control of the quantum superpositions of an electron in silicon for the first time . This feat marks yet another leap toward the dream of an affordable, fast and reliable quantum computer.  Read More