New research shows that a remarkable defect in synthetic
diamond produced by chemical vapor deposition allows researchers to measure,
witness, and potentially manipulate electrons in a manner that could lead to
new “quantum technology” for information processing. The study is published in
the January 31, 2014, issue of Physical Review Letters.
Normal computers process bits, the fundamental ones and
zeros, one at a time. But in quantum computing, a “qubit” can be a one or a
zero at the same time. This duplicitous state can allow multitasking at an
astounding rate, which could exponentially increase the computing capacity of a
tiny, tiny machine.