New kind of quantum computer moves closer

A U.S. physicist has shown it is feasible to read data stored in the magnetic ’spins’ of phosphorus atoms — a step toward creating a superfast computer.

‘Our work represents a breakthrough in the search for a nanoscopic mechanism that could be used for a data readout device,’ said Christoph Boehme, assistant professor of physics at the University of Utah. ‘We have demonstrated experimentally that the nuclear spin orientation of phosphorus atoms embedded in silicon can be measured by very subtle electric currents passing through the phosphorus atoms.’

He said the finding resolves a major obstacle for building a particular kind of quantum computer — the phosphorus-and-silicon quantum computer.

Boehme, who joined the University of Utah faculty this year, conducted the study with Klaus Lips at the Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin and with graduate students Andre Stegner and Hans Huebl, along with physicists Martin Stutzmann and Martin Brandt, at the Technical University of Munich.

The study will appear in the December issue of the journal Nature Physics and is available online.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International