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News Release 08-187

World's Smallest Storage Space ... the Nucleus of an Atom

Information lasts more than one second in hybrid quantum memory system

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Photo of silicon, the grey half-moon object in the middle of the tube, loaded into a resonator.

In order to perfrom their experiments, the international team loaded silicon, the grey half-moon object in the middle of the tube, into a resonator. The team created a system that used both the electron and nucleus of a phosphorous atom embedded in a silicon crystal. Both the electron and nucleus behaved as tiny quantum magnets capable of storing quantum information. This allows information to stay intact for over a second, an important threshold in the development of quantum computing.

Credit: Courtesy of Stephen Lyon, Princeton University


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Photo of the silicon sample in the resonator that is used in the experiment.

The silicon sample is shown in the resonator used in the experiment. The team created a system that used both the electron and nucleus of a phosphorous atom embedded in a silicon crystal. Both the electron and nucleus behaved as tiny quantum magnets capable of storing quantum information. This allows information to stay intact for over a second, an important threshold in the development of quantum computing.

Credit: Courtesy of Stephen A. Lyon, Princeton University


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Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.