Qubits Stored at Room Temp For Two Seconds 88
nmpost writes with news of another step toward practical quantum computers. From the article: "Scientists have successfully overcome one of the obstacles in quantum computation by storing data on quantum bits (qubits) for about two seconds at room temperature. Many of the current systems utilize extremely complex and costly equipments to trap an individual electron or atom in a vacuum at absolute zero temperature. However, a team of researchers from Harvard University have solved the problem of working at normal temperature by using diamonds, which are atomically pure materials on Earth."
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First fail, to be more exact.
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Thought they were those annoying pop-up ads some people see
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So you are eating Schrödinger's breakfast?
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No...
That stuff will kill you half the time.
Absolute zero (Score:5, Insightful)
Many of the current systems utilize extremely complex and costly equipments to trap an individual electron or atom in a vacuum at absolute zero temperature
No they don't. Really. They don't. Trust me on this.
Re:Absolute zero (Score:5, Informative)
That's because "Technorati" horribly mangled what the original Harvard Gazette article said which was:
Most current systems, by comparison, rely on complex and expensive equipment designed to trap a single atom or electron in a vacuum and then cool the entire system to close to absolute zero.
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That's because "Technorati" horribly mangled what the original Harvard Gazette article said which was:
Most current systems, by comparison, rely on complex and expensive equipment designed to trap a single atom or electron in a vacuum and then cool the entire system to close to absolute zero.
"Atomically pure" diamonds are of course, cheap and more readily available than synthetically grown silicon...
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I'm sure you can use industrial diamonds for this.
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All the Mach5 razors are coated in a thin layer of diamond.
As it's over a base layer of unobtanium, that might explain why replacement blades are so fucking expensive.
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Then he's a hell of a lot stupider than his namesake.
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Obligatory Bill Cosby (Score:2)
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The length of an ancient Egyptian man's forearm.
atomically pure materials on Earth. (Score:1)
as opposed to neptune where they're considered quite slutty?
'Atomically pure material' (Score:2)
Who gives a shit? There are lots of atomically pure materials.
Re:'Atomically pure material' (Score:5, Informative)
Whoever wrote the Technorati article that the submitter quoted (most likely the same person) seems to be unable to form basic English sentences. The original article just states:
A group of Harvard scientists, led by Professor of Physics Mikhail Lukin and including graduate students Georg Kucsko and Peter Maurer and postdoctoral researcher Christian Latta, say they’ve cracked the problem, and they did it by turning to one of the purest materials on Earth: diamonds.
Apparently the person writing the Technorati article was trying to insert words in to make himself sound smarter and failing at it.
Re:'Atomically pure material' (Score:4, Informative)
Actually diamonds are probably one of the less pure materials, because there is no way to refine them like you can with elements that can be zone refined such as silicon. Buckyballs can be refined by fractional crystalization... etc etc.
Impurities are locked into diamonds.
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Lab made diamonds are pretty damn pure.
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I believe you on that but you would be surprised at how many nines they get out of some important industrial materials.
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from the harvard gazette article:
"In initial experiments, the team used diamonds that contained 99 percent carbon-12 atoms"
"Working with researchers at Element Six, a British-based company that specializes in manufacturing artificial diamonds, they developed a new technique to create crystals that were even more pure: 99.99 percent carbon-12."
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Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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Two seconds? Sheesh, I can usually at least make it home before my new computer is obsolete.
Really? [ebaumsworld.com]
Apologies... (Score:3, Insightful)
...I have ADD and can only retain information for... ..wait, what were we talking about? It's Independence Day today, right? Let's go set off some fireworks!
Diamonds on Earth? (Score:2)
I've heard of diamonds before, but I was never aware that they were found on Earth!
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Not just any random element. They'll turn into elements that are not atomic.
Is that supposed to bring the costs down? (Score:1)
Using diamonds instead of costly equipment?
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Using diamonds instead of costly equipment?
Yeah a lot of people are ignorant about this and that suits the DeBeers family just fine.
Diamond is not really so rare. It's just that the DeBeers family has a 80%+ monopoly on the world's diamond mines. They artificially restrict the supply to raise the costs and the perceived value. Of course the diamond cutters have a specialized skill and want their profits as well.
They do sell diamonds that are not considered gem-quality at realistic prices though. They are sometimes called industrial diamond
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They used lab manufactured diamonds as to control the purity.
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"costly equipments" (Score:2)
Must be costly indeed when using diamonds is the cheaper alternative. :)
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do a little research, lab grown pure carbon diamonds approach the cost of a gemstone at sizes over half a carat, cheaper for a smaller one. but that means on the order of some few thousands of dollars, not whatever you are imagining.
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in small quantities, the C-13 is $200 / gram. less of course in bulk. the major market right now is pharmy. c12 is waste product of that process, it's cheap.
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Lab grown diamonds can be made at a price per carat about $5.
Source:
Wired article: "The New Diamond Age"
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond_pr.html [wired.com]
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To be fair, its the same mystical marketing that causes gold to have value, or any other precious gem or metal used in jewelry. Diamonds are some what unique in that their is one company that has cornered the world market.
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And all those same things can be said about diamonds except exchange "investors" with "DeBeers".
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And that's exactly my point. People think that gold has some crazy inherent value that no other substance in the world has which makes it the most perfect medium for exchange. It doesn't.
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Gold has value because of its many industrial uses
But mainly because it's goldy and shiny.
You win the prize! (Score:2)
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Excellent! (Score:4, Funny)
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You do know that there are other sorts of diamonds than the pricy rocks sold by DeBeers don't you? Industrial grade diamonds are quite cheap and there are ways now to create diamonds even more perfect that the priciest ornamental gem artificially.
And if you read the article you might have run across this tidbit
"Using a pair of impurities in ultra-pure, laboratory-grown diamonds..."
Oh snap!
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Stored at Room Temp For Two Seconds (Score:2)
Thats nothing. I once ate a qubit.
Room Temperature (Score:2)
"stored at room temperature for 2 seconds"
Room temperature can vary a lot. If your a/c isn't working due to power outage it could be 48C on a day like today and if your heat isn't working in the winter it could be -28C
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The original researchers probably meant STP, you can look it up on your own.
Not too shabby (Score:2)
given that DRAMs only store a bit reliably for milliseconds yet are the most common electronic storage.
Diamonds (Score:2)
Finally some practical application that may be used to justify the artificial cost of diamonds.
so are we going to get a quantum computer.. (Score:2)
..that does something a regular computer cannot do - and some demonstration of that any time soon?
(d-wave has nice pr and all.. but wtf does it actually do? have they done practical demonstrations that display an advantage? )
vanchuyenhangdimy.com (Score:1)
Quantum Bigfoot? (Score:2)
The old Quantum Bigfoot hard drives could generally be trusted to keep your data intact for about 2 seconds as well.
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Reminds me of another quantum storage device... The old Quantum Bigfoot hard drives could generally be trusted to keep your data intact for about 2 seconds as well.
They weren't very good, but they were cheap.
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