Quantum computing a step closer with Electron pump

An international team say their research has moved the world one step closer to reliable, high-performance quantum computing.

The team has developed a single-electron “pump”. The device developed by the researchers can produce one billion electrons per second and uses quantum mechanics to control them one-by-one. It’s so precise they have been able to use this device to measure the limitations of current electronics equipment.

“This research puts us one step closer to the holy grail – reliable, high-performance quantum computing,” says project leader Dr Giuseppe C. Tettamanzi, Senior Research Fellow, at the University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing. “Quantum computing, or more broadly quantum information processing, will allow us to solve problems that just won’t be possible under classical computing systems.”

This University of Adelaide team, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Aalto University in Finland, University of New South Wales, and the University of Latvia, is working in an emerging field called electron quantum optics. This involves controlled preparation, manipulation and measurement of single electrons. Although a considerable amount of work has been devoted world-wide to understand electronic quantum transport, there is much still to be understood and achieved.

“Achieving full control of electrons in these nano-systems will be highly beneficial for realistic implementation of a scalable quantum computer. We, of course, have been controlling electrons for the past 150 years, ever since electricity was discovered. But, at this small scale, the old physics rules can be thrown out,” said Dr Tettamanzi.

Published in the journal Nano Letters, the researchers say that their final goal is to provide a flow of electrons that’s reliable, continuous and consistent – and in this research, they have managed to move a big step towards realistic quantum computing.

This paves the way for future quantum information processing applications, including in defence, cybersecurity and encryption, and big data analysis.