GM et al, Interested in nanotech and quantum computing?
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>>Scientists Advance Measurement Technology by Mo Krochmal, 05/22/98, 7:05PM TechWeb
Scientists at Yale University have announced the development of a device that measures very small voltages and currents, and has the potential to enhance research in quantum computing.
The ultrasensitive electrometer, a variation on the single-electron transistor technology that has been around for a decade, can detect charges as small as 15-millionths of an electron -- a million times faster than a typical single electron transistor.
The device was announced in a report in Science magazine Thursday, written by Robert Schoelkopf, a Yale physicist who developed the device with an international research team.
"It's a big leap in measurement technology," Schoelkopf said.
Schoelkopf said the ability to precisely measure small electrical charges will enhance his research interest in quantum computing, which involves the ability to place a bit in a "funny state," that is not one or zero, and to use that property for extremely fast computation.
"That's the next thing we will work on," he said. "If you can make a structure where you have created these bits, then you can use this machine to measure them, and can see [a bit] living in a state between zero and one."
Quantum computing and nanotechnology -- scientific investigation of manufacturing at the molecular level -- are both regarded as breakthrough technological innovations. Some scientists believe those innovations will be attainable in as little as 10 years, but others say it will take much longer.
This device is a small step forward, said Schoelkopf, but it is an advance limited to the well-equipped laboratory. It can only work at temperatures near absolute zero or about -459 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jim Von Ehr, the CEO of Zyvex, a Richardson, Texas, company that is doing research in nanotechnology, said Schoelkopf's device was not a big breakthrough in his area of interest, which is developing a molecular machine.
"We concentrate more on the mechanical, rather than the electronic," he said. "We'd like to have a manipulating device with multiple degrees of freedom, that can move in the x, y, and z axis and can wiggle like the end of your finger."<< |
