Diamond’s unique properties may make it a match for developers of tomorrow’s quantum computers. Physicists are testing the crystal’s ability to store information in single atoms, insulate information from outside disturbances, and transmit information as light rather than through electrical currents.iStockphoto***
Diamond is cool—even at room temperature. The stiff crystalline structure that makes diamond nature’s hardest material can shield an atom from heat vibrations—not forever, but a lot longer than in other materials.
Physicists have now learned to use that ultimate cocoon quality to store and manipulate information in single atoms at room temperature—feats that in other materials require getting to the neighborhood of absolute zero. Because its atoms can store the notoriously peculiar quantum information, diamond has become a candidate material for use in future quantum computers. Such devices would rely on quantum weirdness to perform certain tasks that would take an ordinary computer till the end of time.
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Nano sized diamond crystals (Credit: University of Melbourne)
University of Melbourne scientists have managed to create nanometer-sized diamonds, by shooting carbon atoms into glass and the heating the glass. The diamonds’ properties may help in creating quantum computers capable of performing parallel computing tasks that cannot be carried out by conventional computers.
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Diamond Imports
