New
Scientist: Researchers at the University of Cambridge have
succeeded in capturing single electrons and moving them back
and forth between two electrical traps. Such quantum
manipulation represents a milestone in the area of quantum
computing. Quantum computers send information in the form of
single particles, called quantum bits, or qubits. However,
those qubits are notoriously fragile—just trying to
measure them can destroy them. So the researchers had to
develop a method to transfer the qubits from the area where
they perform the calculations to a separate spot where the
qubits can be measured in isolation. Using a surface acoustic
wave, Crispin Barnes and colleagues were able to bounce a
single electron between two quantum dots connected via a long
channel. Their
results
appear today in
Nature.
