Submitted via IRC for Anonymous_Coward
In surprise breakthrough, scientists create quantum states in everyday electronics
After decades of miniaturization, the electronic components we've relied on for computers and modern technologies are now starting to reach fundamental limits. Faced with this challenge, engineers and scientists around the world are turning toward a radically new paradigm: quantum information technologies.
Quantum technology, which harnesses the strange rules that govern particles at the atomic level, is normally thought of as much too delicate to coexist with the electronics we use every day in phones, laptops and cars. However, scientists with the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering announced a significant breakthrough: Quantum states can be integrated and controlled in commonly used electronic devices made from silicon carbide.
"The ability to create and control high-performance quantum bits in commercial electronics was a surprise," said lead investigator David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering at UChicago and a pioneer in quantum technology. "These discoveries have changed the way we think about developing quantum technologies—perhaps we can find a way to use today's electronics to build quantum devices."
In two papers published in Science and Science Advances, Awschalom's group demonstrated they could electrically control quantum states embedded in silicon carbide. The breakthrough could offer a means to more easily design and build quantum electronics—in contrast to using exotic materials scientists usually need to use for quantum experiments, such as superconducting metals, levitated atoms or diamonds.
These quantum states in silicon carbide have the added benefit of emitting single particles of light with a wavelength near the telecommunications band. "This makes them well suited to long-distance transmission through the same fiber-optic network that already transports 90 percent of all international data worldwide," said Awschalom, senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
Moreover, these light particles can gain exciting new properties when combined with existing electronics. For example, in the Science Advances paper, the team was able to create what Awschalom called a "quantum FM radio;" in the same way music is transmitted to your car radio, quantum information can be sent over extremely long distances.
"All the theory suggests that in order to achieve good quantum control in a material, it should be pure and free of fluctuating fields," said graduate student Kevin Miao, first author on the paper. "Our results suggest that with proper design, a device can not only mitigate those impurities, but also create additional forms of control that previously were not possible."
Electrical and optical control of single spins integrated in scalable semiconductor devices [$], Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9406)
Electrically driven optical interferometry with spins in silicon carbide [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay0527)
(Score: 2) by tekk on Friday December 13 2019, @12:23AM (7 children)
I thought the whole reason clock speeds couldn't go any faster was that they weren't able to compensate for quantum issues any more.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 13 2019, @02:00AM (3 children)
If you can't beat it, try to profit from it.
I knew a "chaos professor" who was trying to get venture capital funding for "chaos gate" based chips... basically he was proposing ASICs that operated in controlled chaotic regions of gate switching instead of strict binary. AFAIK he never did get funding, but he did get a fair number of people to listen to his theory presentations.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday December 13 2019, @08:55AM (2 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_field-effect_transistor [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 13 2019, @02:21PM (1 child)
10 years later, he's still flogging it:
https://news.ncsu.edu/2016/09/kia-mooreslaw/ [ncsu.edu]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Friday December 13 2019, @03:28PM
There's no reason not to. Every idea available is going to get serious consideration eventually, especially as scaling slows down.
I am more and more convinced that we will see at least 1 million times performance increase in classical computing, using several new ideas. Alternatively, more SoC-like chips will have several different approaches packed together. Classical, graphics, tensor, neuromorphic, quantum, FPGA, "chaos computing", etc. can all co-exist in 3D stacks or layers in very close proximity, along with next-generation non-volatile memory.
Behnam Kia appears to be active as of late 2018: Chaotic attractor hopping yields logic operations [plos.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Friday December 13 2019, @02:16AM (1 child)
When there's a bottleneck, you can either eliminate it, or find a way to use it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 13 2019, @05:36AM
Said both Bernuolli brothers in unison. Because, the bottle neck .... and the ... pressure ...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Friday December 13 2019, @08:56AM
Quantum tunneling [wikipedia.org] of electrons is the problem, not "quantum states".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 13 2019, @05:16AM
create classical cities in quantum mechanics
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Friday December 13 2019, @06:02PM
Another breathless phys.org article light on details, but full of promises for future applications. Sounds like these guys are in a position to leapfrog all the big players in quantum computing that need to use cryogenics. Sure.
Quantum FM radio, my ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @04:04AM
Pronounced like "meow"? He's probably sick of lab associates always labeling containers of his materials as "Meow Mix".