Singapore (Commonwealth Union) – Quantum computers are known to make use of the technology of quantum mechanics. Quantum computers play a significant role in a variety of fields such as chemical engineering, cybersecurity and financial modeling.
Powerful interactions between electrons found at ultra-low temperatures near the coldness of space pave the way for lower error prone quantum computers. Quantum computers, able to carry out calculations more rapidly than traditional computers, face a significant barrier. They are inclined to data storage and processing errors occurring due to atmospheric disturbances such as radiation from warm objects.
A new finding from researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), on the way electrons can be controlled at very low temperatures, suggests a way for addressing this problem and producing increased robustness and accurate quantum computers.
The study was published online in the Nature Communications journal in October this year, indicating for the first time, that electrons can have strong engagements between them under certain conditions. These interactions, only forecasted theoretical models on prior occasions, which were demonstrated on the edges of a type of atomically thin and electrically insulating material at extremely low temperatures near the coldness of outer space.
Asst Prof Bent Weber from NTU Singapore’s School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences headed the research team, which verified that interactions at minute temperatures result in electron flow similar to a liquid. This indicates that electrons tend to move together along a line rather than individually or haphazardly across various directions.
In these latest findings researchers observed the way electrons behaved using a scanning tunnelling microscope. This was conducted with the edge of a special class of very thin electrically insulating material very close to the highly sharp metal tip of the microscope. The distance between the two was just a single nanometer or smaller.
