When will we be able to work on a Quantum Computer?

Many of the International scientists are currently working on a technology called Quantum Physics, which can make us see some real fast computers in the near future.

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In a conventional computer data is stored in the form of charges in transistors, but in quantum computers the data is stored in electrons and nuclei in the form of light. That means that a single atom can store multiple information that makes this computer fast.

The main challenging point for such a development is a way to read the nuclear spins of the atoms. Earlier scientists were able to read collective spins on some millions of atoms together but now experiments conducted by Christoph Boehme has revealed that we can read the spins collectively on ten thousand atoms. The breakthrough will take place when we can read the spin on a single atom. That needs a ten thousand-fold improvement.

The details of the experiments conducted by Christoph Boehme are:

The researchers used a piece of silicon crystal about 300 microns thick - about three times the width of a human hair - less than 3 inches long and about one-tenth of an inch wide. The silicon crystal was doped with phosphorus atoms. Phosphorus atoms were embedded in silicon because too many phosphorus atoms too close together would interact with each other so much that they couldn't store information. The concept is that the nuclear spin from one atom of phosphorus would store one qubit of information.

The scientists used lithography to print two gold electrical contacts onto the doped silicon. Then they placed an extremely thin layer of silicon dioxide - about two billionths of a meter thick - onto the silicon between the gold contacts. As a result, the device's surface had tiny spots where the spins of phosphorus atoms could be detected.

With the above experiment, scientists were able to read the net spin of some ten thousands electrons and nuclei of phosphorous.

So the main question in my mind is that when will I be able to work on a quantum computer...?

Via: zdnet