Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have devised a potentially groundbreaking theory demonstrating how to control the spin of particles without using superconducting magnets - a development that could advance the field of spintronics and bring scientists a step closer to quantum computing.
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Member since:
2006-01-19
Member since:2006-07-30
Absolutely!
From what I understood they use L-shaped gallium arsenide (a semiconductor mainly used for high speed circuits) to control the spin.
Maybe we can roughly compare this to water flowing around a corner and getting some spin.
Ok, vague picture but everything concerning QM is vague 
I'm not sure if quantum computing would cause more harm or good. It means not just that processors get faster but that a complete new range of problems (NP-hard) becomes solvable because quantum superpositions allow to try all alternatives simultaniously.
This would probably render encryption useless except, of course, quantum encryption which alerts you when a third person is listening.
Member since:
2005-07-18
“We believe we've discovered a much simpler way for inducing spin polarization,” he added. “We don't need a big magnet. The only requirement in our case is an electrical current in the sample, which is much easier to achieve than putting the sample in a magnetic coil. For an electrical current, you only need two contacts.”
I can't help but compare this with the transition from vacuum tubes to transistors. Back in 1947 Bell found out that you don't need a heater and a vacuum, you can make electrons tunnel through a PN juction barrier. I wonder what advances these new "transistors" will bring.
Member since:
2005-07-06
