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nanotimes News in Brief

11-01 :: December 2010 / January 2011

Quantum Computer // Better Control of Building Blocks for Quantum Computer

Left: Artist‘s impression of nanowire qubits.

Bottom: Artist’s impression of the spin-orbit qubit. Like in a yo-yo toy, by moving the electron one controls its spin. © Gemma Plum/Delft University

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cientists from the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology and Eindho-

ven University of Technology have succeeded in controlling the building blocks of a future super- fast quantum computer. They are now able to ma- nipulate these building blocks (qubits) with electrical rather than magnetic fields, as has been the common practice up till now. They have also been able to em-

bed these qubits into semiconductor nanowires. Until now, the spin of an electron has been con- trolled by magnetic fields. However, these field are extremely difficult to generate on a chip. The elec- tron spin in the qubits that are currently being gene- rated by the Dutch scientists can be controlled by a charge or an electric field, rather than by magnetic fields. This form of control has major advantages, as