A team of engineers in Australia appears to have found the solution to a problem that has plagued experts for more than half a century. The discovery could lead to advances in quantum computing.
In 1961, Nobel laureate scientist Nicolaas Bloembergenproposed that the nucleus of an atom could be controlled using electric fields. Now, engineers at the University of New South Wales, Sydney (UNSW) have managed to achieve just that.
"This discovery means we now have a 'pathway' to build quantum computers using single-atom spins, without the need for any oscillating magnetic field to operate them," said Andrea Morello, professor of quantum mechanics at UNSW. "Furthermore, we can use these nuclei as extremely precise sensors of electric and magnetic fields, or to answer fundamental questions in quantum science."
Quantum computing allows computers to manipulate information in highly sophisticated ways. The goal is to provide more powerful computing than what current supercomputers.
The research is described in an article in the journal Nature.
In fact, the discovery was made by accident, according to the university. The researchers were trying to perform magnetic resonance on a single atom of the chemical element antimony. “However, as soon as we started the experiment, we realized that something was wrong. The nucleus behaved very strangely, refusing to respond to certain frequencies. However, it showed a strong response to others,” said Dr. Vincent Mourik, one of the study’s lead authors. “This confused us for a while, until we had a ‘Eureka!’ moment and realized that we were doing electrical resonance instead of magnetic resonance.”
According to the scientists, producing magnetic fields requires a lot of resources and the fields are difficult to confine in small spaces. On the other hand, electric fields can be produced on top of a tiny electrode, thus allowing for easy arrangement of atoms in nanoelectronic devices.
As it turns out, the work of these scientists is very important and allows quantum computing to evolve further.
