Tallahassee (FL) - Florida State University’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has announced a new material which may be to future quantum computers what silicon is to computers today. Created of potassium, niobium, oxygen and chromium ions, the word qubit may soon become common in the vernacular.

Most all semiconductors manufactured today use a "bit" as the smallest piece of information. It is represented by an electric state of "on" or "off", which equate to 1 or 0 in the binary number system. Qubits are the quantum computer’s equivalent, their smallest piece of information. But whereas binary computers can only deal with 1 or 0 states, a qubit can handle those two states and many more. It is even possible for a qubit to possess both 1 and 0 states at the same time.

Silicon-based computers are approaching maximum theoretical limits. At Fall IDF 2007, Gordon Moore gave an interview with NPR’s Dr. Moira Gunn wherein he explained that real, hard limits are coming, the kind that won’t have work-arounds. They’ll be here in the next decade or so. Current technology roadmaps at Intel, for example, show progress from 45nm all the way to 16nm via 32nm, 22nm and 16nm steps. Still, even today using 45nm process technologies, researchers have observed quantum effects. And as feature sizes get smaller and smaller, any quantum peculiarities will increasingly affect the way data gets processed inside a CPU.

Scientists have seen this barrier coming a long time. Many have had the desire to use the very quantum effects which limit existing implementations in semiconductors, but for productive results. For example, at smaller and smaller levels, the magnetic spin of electrons could be used to store information in place of transistors. But, how to do it ? That’s where this new material comes in.

Experiments have shown that this new material can enable "500 operations in 10 microseconds before losing its ability to retain information". And while this does make it a good candidate for a future qubit, according to the reports, the realities are we’re still quite a ways away from our first quantum computer. But just like the original computers from back in the 1940s and 50s, these early steps may soon yield their equivalent in quantum spaces. And when they do, even at those comparatively slow processing speeds, they’ll be many thousands of times faster than today’s highest-end semiconductors. And by the time the equivalent of 2007 silicon technology is reached in the quantum space, perhaps many millions of times faster.

TG Daily has reported several stories recently of new scientific abilities discovered to observe the spin of individual atoms. This new material, however, apparently allows for much more utility. Individual electron spins can be both read and written to in such a way that the very activity of doing so does not destroy the state, at least not immediately. That is a form of holy grail in quantum computing circles. The elusive ability to read without destroying. Or to be able to read and write the same state back while still maintaining a copy for use.

Florida State University’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is funded by both the National Science Foundation as well as the state of Florida. It provides the necessary equipment for carrying out state of the art, high magnetic field research and experiments. Scientists and engineers from around the world come to their facility to carry out essential research in these areas.