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/ Technology News / 2007 / November 2007 / November 2, 2007 Controlling spin of a single electron may lead to Super-fast quantum computer |
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Scientists have succeeded in controlling the spin of a single electron merely by using electric fields. This might make way for a much simpler realization of the building blocks of a super-fast quantum computer in the future.
Washington, Nov 2 : Scientists have succeeded in controlling the spin of a single electron merely by using electric fields. This might make way for a much simpler realization of the building blocks of a super-fast quantum computer in the future.
Controlling the spin of a single electron is essential if this vision has to be fulfilled.
An electron not only has a charge but, because of its spin, also behaves as a tiny magnet. In a magnetic field, the spin can point in the same direction as the field or in the opposite direction. But the laws of quantum mechanics also allow the spin to exist in both states simultaneously. As a result, the spin of an electron is a very promising building block for the yet-to-be-developed quantum computer; a computer that, for certain applications, is far more powerful than a conventional computer.
At first glance, it is surprising that the spin can be rotated by an electric field. However, according to the theory of relativity, a moving electron can 'feel' an electric field as though it were a magnetic field.
Researchers Katja Nowack and Dr. Frank Koppens therefore forced an electron to move through a rapidly-changing electric field. Working in collaboration with Professor Yuli V. Nazarov, theoretical researcher at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, they showed that it was indeed possible to turn the spin of the electron by doing so.
The advantage of controlling spin with electric fields rather than magnetic fields is that the former are easy to generate. It will also be easier to control various spins independently from one another, which is a requirement for building a quantum computer - using electric fields.
The research was done by the Delft University of Technology's Kavli Institute of Nanoscience and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM).
The team, led by Dr. Lieven Vandersypen, is now going to apply this technique to a number of electrons.
ANI
