Communications of the ACM
Could We Soon All Have Quantum Computers on Our Desks? Scientists Claim to Have Cracked the Problem of How They Store Data
Researchers at Northwestern University have come up with a way of creating a stable quantum bit that could bring quantum computers closer to practical realization.
Credit: U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The creation of a stable quantum bit (qubit) from a molecule of vanadium, carbon, and sulphur by Northwestern University researchers may solve a longstanding problem of quantum computer data storage, and bring quantum computers closer to practical realization.
The researchers say this molecular construct can outperform current qubits by maintaining a state of superposition for longer periods. "Through chemical tuning of nuclear spin content in the vanadium (IV) environment we realized a coherence time of one millisecond for the species," reports Northwestern's Danna Freedman. Her team's molecule must be chilled at a temperature of -193.15 degrees Celsius to operate. Quantum computers currently must be kept at temperatures of about -273 degrees Celsius to operate, which makes their practical application impossible.
"Exploiting the inherent properties of quantum species such as spins, quantum information processing offers the potential to fundamentally transform our approach to modeling chemical systems and cryptography," Freedman's team says. They describe their molecule as a vanadium core enclosed by "arms" of carbon and sulphur.
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