Communications of the ACM
Physicists Invent Flux Capacitor to Break Time-Reversal Symmetry
A team of researchers in Australia and Switzerland has designed a device to break time-reversal symmetry by exploiting the quantum tunneling of magnetic flux around a capacitor.
Credit: Amblin Entertainment
Collaborators from the University of Queensland (UQ) and RMIT University in Australia and ETH Zurich in Switzerland have proposed a device that can break time-reversal symmetry by exploiting the quantum tunneling of magnetic flux around a capacitor.
UQ's Tom Stace says this device "makes radio signals circulate around the circuit in only one direction, much like cars on a roundabout. Such a device could be used to isolate parts of an experimental apparatus from each other, which is crucial when the individual parts are extremely sensitive quantum systems."
RMIT's Jared Cole notes the circulator would be based on a superconductor, which lacks electrical resistance. "In it, quantum 'tubes' of magnetic flux move around a central capacitor by a process known as quantum tunneling, where they overcome classically insurmountable obstacles," he says.
ETH Zurich's Clemens Mueller says the work "makes an important step towards scaling up this technology, where researchers need to precisely direct control and measurement signals around a quantum computer."
From UQ News
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2018 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found