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Research Reveals Diamond Can Store Quantum Data

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By Dr. Cameron ChaiMar 30 2011

A research team at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has discovered a method to monitor atoms inside diamond crystals to store data and to act as quantum memory.

Quantum memory encodes data in both 0 and 1 simultaneously. Quantum data can transmit precise data, so the team hopes to develop quantum computers.

David Awschalom at the university says these diamonds need to be imperfect. A common flaw in diamond is nitrogen, which yellows the white stone. When a nitrogen nano-particle is placed adjacent to an empty spot in the crystal, the interfering element offers an additional electron in the hole. Awschalom has discovered a method to connect the electron spin to that of the adjacent nitrogen nucleus. This is caused by magnetic fields that operate at around 100 nanoseconds.

The crystal memory operates at the room temperature, while the spins within it can be both altered and measured by beaming laser light with the diamond. The nuclear spin exists for more than a millisecond that can be enhanced to seconds. In a paper published in 2010 in Nano Letters, Awschalom described a method to develop specified motifs of nitrogen atoms within a diamond, where lasers were used to embed multiple atoms in an individual grid.

This procedure could also help build big quantum networks. Quantum data is relayed by linking qubits. This is confined to kilometers. Quantum repeaters could use nano-chips of diamond to capture, store and transmit it to enable quantum networks to operate across longer distances.

Source: http://www.ucsb.edu/

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