11-01 :: December 2010 / January 2011

nanotimes News in Brief

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Scanning electron image of the nanowire device with gate electrodes used to electrically control qubits, and source and drain electrodes used to probe qubit states. © Gemma Plum / Delft University

Leo Kouwenhoven, scientist at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at TU Delft, points out: “These spin- orbit qubits combine the best of both worlds. They employ the advantages of both electronic control and information storage in the electron spin.”

There is another important new development in the Dutch research: the scientists have been able to embed the qubits (two) into nanowires made of a semiconductor material (indium arsenide). These wires are of the order of nanometres in diameter

and micrometres in length. Kouwenhoven: “These nanowires are being increasingly used as convenient building blocks in nanoelectronics. Nanowires are an excellent platform for quantum information proces- sing, among other applications.”

S. Nadj-Perge, S. M. Frolov, E. P. A. M. Bakkers & L. P. Kou- wenhoven: Spin-Orbit qubit in a semiconductor nanowire, In: Nature, Vol. 468(2010), Number 7327, December 23, 2010, Pages 1084-1087, DOI:10.1038/nature09682: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09682