Discovery of a “Flat” Atom Hailed as Quantum Computing Breakthrough

03 07 2008

Discovery of a “Flat” Atom Hailed as Quantum Computing Breakthrough

Posted by: in Life and Science

msw writes to tell us that nanoelectronics researchers have discovered a new molecule that could act as a state-manipulable atom due to its one-of-a-kind shape and properties. “Imagine a little arsenic atom embedded in a tiny strip of silicon atoms. An electric current is applied. Something strange arises on the surface — an exotic molecule. On one end is the spherical submerged arsenic atom; on the other end is an “artificial” flat atom, seemingly 2D, created as an artifact. The pair form an exotic molecule, which has a shared electron, which can be manipulated to be at either end, or in an intermediate quantum state.”