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Some mind-blowingly smart scientists from the University of Michigan, US Naval Research Lab, and the University of California at San Diego, have figured out how to use lasers to trap an electron in a dark state. That means lots of things, but from a security standpoint, it also means computers based on quantum technology would be uncrackable by conventional machines.
"The National Security Agency has said that based on our present technology, we have about a 20-year window of security," explained UM physics professor Duncan Steele. "That means if we sent up a satellite today, it would take somebody about 20 years to crack the code. Quantum computers will let you develop a code that would be impossible to crack with a conventional computer."
Steel and colleagues were able to create a quantum state of a solid-state quantum bit (qubit) at rates of a billion times per second (one gigahertz). Conventional computing requires a bit to be either a 0 or 1, but a qubit can be both simultaneously.
The quantum state was achieved with lasers by trapping and stabilizing a single electron within a single semiconductor quantum dot, which, in 20th Century now-caveman-esque terms, is similar to a transistor. The electron's spin is trapped in a dark state, named such because it does not absorb light-which would destabilize it-and while in this state, scientists can adjust the amount of 0 and 1 the qubit represents.
"We are the first to show that you can do this to a single electron in a self-assembled quantum dot," Steel said. "If you're going to do quantum computing, you have to be able to work with one electron at a time."
As mind-boggling as that is, how much you want to bet that in 50 years (or sooner), young, gifted hackers will be programming electrons as naturally as they read a digital book, as if this type of thing has always existed? What will be really fun (and potentially devastating) is when those gifted, young hackers crack the uncrackable systems.
About
the Author:
Jason is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. He covers business, technology, and security issues.
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