Posted on 09/02/2005 11:55:36 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch
The experiment, done at the company's Cambridge, England, labs, is a step toward developing a new generation of highly powerful processors.
By Peter Clarke, EE Times
Sept. 1, 2005
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170102712
LONDON A team at Hitachis Cambridge Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in England has developed a silicon device for quantum computing: a quantum-dot charge qubit. This structure, based on Hitachi's many years of work on single-electron devices, is the first step in the development of a quantum computer based on conventional silicon technology, according to Hitachi Europe Ltd.
Quantum computers make use of quantum bits (qubits), which can exist for a limited time as a superposition of two quantum states a mixture of both 0 and 1 simultaneously. Qubits are also subject to the strange phenomenon of quantum entanglement. When two or more are entangled, they behave as one system, so that the state of one qubit depends directly on the state of the others.
This means that the potential processing power of a quantum information system increases exponentially with the number of qubits, rather than linearly, Hitachi said.
The Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory scientists have demonstrated the creation of a single qubit in a silicon circuit, made using standard fabrication techniques and which is the first step towards making a silicon quantum computer.
Qubits have been made before in gallium arsenide but these have had very short coherence times of a couple of nanoseconds. The Hitachi team has demonstrated an isolated double quantum-dot as a qubit built in silicon with a coherence time 100 times longer than shown in other solid-state implementations, Hitachi said.
The key to building a quantum computer is to produce enough qubits at so that they can interact within their coherence times; to be manipulated, formed into architectures and then to process data. The Cambridge team has performed all the basic operations ; initialization, manipulation, and measurement using electrical gates for initialization and manipulation, and a single-electron transistor for measurement, Hitachi said.
As qubits can be combined in a variety of two-dimensional circuits, as in conventional microprocessors, there is the possibility of scaling-up from one device to a large quantum circuit, which is Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory's next project.
The qubit research was due to reported in Physical Review Letters in August 2005, and at the International Symposium on Foundations of Quantum Mechanics in the Light of New Technology, which was due to held in the Advanced Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., Hatoyama, Saitama, Japan, also in August 2005.
So when does Sky-Net become self aware?
Quantum computers are the next step towards nano-machines ... imagine a P5 or better processor inside a robot the size of a bacterium or blood cell. Make a few million of these things and inject them into your body ... look for cancer cells, clots, plaque, bad guys ... I love this stuff!
My son works for Hitachi Data Systems.
They talk in TERA-bytes and PEDA-bytes - full multiple parallel redundant file transfers across the globe for Wal-Mart.
I've been in computers since I built my first analog calculator back in 1961 - this is out of my league now.
Time for the yung'uns to pick up the banner!
Reminds me of Q-Bert.
They have to invent self-replication first. ;-)
Ping.
"Not much longer until we are there -- quantum computing would make forecasting a breeze."
As well as behavioral monitoring and modification. Just as always, all is not a bed of roses.
Ahhhh! :-(
Amongst other things.
marker
:(
What happens to all the Highspeed alrchitectures I developed for DES, AES and Blowfish ?
I guess my good times are done :))
>I've been in computers since I built my first analog calculator back in 1961 - this is out of my league now. Time for the yung'uns to pick up the banner!
The worst part is when you go to the computer store and some 14 year old tries to explain it all to you!
nah, just the liberals.
The hardware is the easy part.
Its writing the software that accurately models the real world that is the hard part.
Will I be able to play solitaire faster?
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