Experts Hail Quantum Computer Memory Stability Breakthrough 53
cold fjord writes "The BBC reports, 'A fragile quantum memory state has been held stable at room temperature for a "world record" 39 minutes — overcoming a key barrier to ultrafast computers. 'Qubits' of information encoded in a silicon system persisted for almost 100 times longer than ever before. ... "This opens the possibility of truly long-term storage of quantum information at room temperature," said Prof Thewalt ... unofficially, the previous best for a solid state system was 25 seconds at room temperature, or three minutes under cryogenic conditions. ... What's more, they found they could manipulate the qubits as the temperature of the system rose and fell back towards absolute zero. At cryogenic temperatures, their quantum memory system remained coherent for three hours. "Having such robust, as well as long-lived, qubits could prove very helpful for anyone trying to build a quantum computer," said co-author Stephanie Simmons of Oxford University's department of materials. ... "We've managed to identify a system that seems to have basically no noise." However she cautions there are still many hurdles to overcome before large-scale quantum computations can be performed. ... "This result represents an important step towards realizing quantum devices," said David Awschalom, professor in Spintronics and Quantum Information, at the University of Chicago. "However, a number of intriguing challenges still remain." — Abstract for the paywalled academic paper."
Re:Nice, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Windows (Score:5, Funny)
What a load of crap (Score:1, Funny)
Could all this be non-science and a misinterpretation of statistical math that doesn't really describe reality?
The underpinning of quantum computing is the idea that a qubit has the ability to be in more than one state simultaneously. This is simply illogical.
Don't shrug it off and say "things work counter-intuitively at the subatomic level"; that's a philosophical cop out and is not science.
The quantum is a profound realization that electrons can only be at discreet energy states based on the wave like nature of electrons whose energy state can only exist in even multiples of their wavelength. Why is the term being commandeered to imply that quantum can represent multiple states simultaneously.
The theory is that a single qubit can represent a one, a zero, or any quantum superposition of these two qubit states. Quantum superposition is a useful statistical tool and that is all. To go out on a limb and try to actually engineer useful machines on this concept - well good luck with that.
True quantum computing where single atomic energy states, spin and other subatomic energy states are used to represent information can keep Moore's law alive for decades. Hopefully not too much time and energy will be wasted on magic, smoke and mirrors and pseudo-science.