You know, at some point we're going to grow tired of just getting closer and demand that we arrive, but thankfully for a smattering of UK-based researchers, we're not yet to that point. Reportedly, brainiacs from Edinburgh and Manchester University have created a molecular machine that could be used to develop quantum computers for making "intricate calculations" far more quickly than current supercomputers. Essentially, these gurus relied on molecular scale technology instead of silicon chips; more specifically, they achieved the so-called breakthrough by "combining tiny magnets with molecular machines that can shuttle between two locations without the use of external force." Not surprisingly, there's still more work to be done, with Professor David Leigh of Edinburgh University noting that "the major challenges we face now are to bring many of these qubits together to build a device that could perform calculations, and to discover how to communicate between them." In other words, check back in 2012.

One of the many challenges facing quantum computing is finding a practical material from which to process the quantum information -- the material must not be so exotic such that it becomes too prohibitive and expensive to use for mass calculations. That's why a recently discovered hidden magnetic "quantum order" in ceramic has scientists in such a tizzy. By heating or doping the material with a variety of impurities, scientists from the London Center for Nanotechnology have found a way to propagate magnetic excitations over long chains of atoms in the otherwise magnetically disordered material. Armed then, with the ability to break the chains into independent sub-chains, each with it's own hidden order, scientists have taken the first step towards engineering spin-based quantum states from ceramics. Right, the quantum analogy to those good ol' 1 and 0 state changes used by today's not-so-super computers.

[Thanks, Scott S.]

NASA has confirmed that it built a quantum computer under contract for Canadian startup company D-Wave Systems Inc. after D-Wave was accused of faking a recent demonstration to businesses and academia. During a demonstration last month, the company revealed that its 16 qubit (more qubits = more processes) quantum processor had been left back at the company's offices, and therefore the test would be show via an internet link. According to D-Wave CEO Ed Martin, "businesses aren't too fascinated about the details of quantum mechanics": unfortunately, a group of industry experts were interested, and they made their skepticism clear. The result is NASA's confirmation that it did in fact construct D-Wave's quantum processor design under contract; a confirmation that most people will be inclined to accept. The underlying technology shown in the demonstration was the use of a normal digital processor in conjunction with a quantum chip, which D-Wave hopes will enable commercial applications of quantum computing. D-Wave is planning to up its design from 16 qubits to 1,024 qubits by the end of 2008, a rather controversial aim for some that think practical quantum computing is still up to a decade away. There's gotta be something about quantum computing that puts scientists on edge: perhaps it's the platform's potential to make all current forms of encryption obsolete ...

[Via Slashdot]

As expected, Canada's D-Wave Systems has announced "the world's first commercially viable quantum computer," and they seem to be pretty stoked about it. The achievement is notable, since they've managed to build a whole 16 qubit computer that actually does some simple computations, even if it's far less powerful than even the most basic of home computers. Qubits are quantum bits that can be in an "on," "off" or "both" state due to fuzzy physics at the atomic level, and up until now the best anyone had done was get three qubits together for computing. This 16-bit version can solve Sudoku, create a complicated seating plan and search for molecular structures, but quantum computers will need to be in the range of thousands of qubits to be able to solve puzzles -- such as encryption -- that current computers cannot. D-Wave is planning to have a 1,000 qubit version ready by the end of next year, but scientists in the field are skeptical. The adiabatic method used by D-Wave, which cools electronic circuits into a superconducting state, with the resulting qubits being slowly varied in a magnetic field, might not be able to keep its speed when on that large of a scale. "It probably won't work but it's not quixotic," says Seth Lloyd of MIT. "If it works then they can solve really hard problems and they'll be very much in demand," he says. But it's a long shot: "It's certainly not the kind of company I'd invest my money in." To raise awareness, D-Wave will be opening the computer up to computational problems over the internet after the results of the project are peer-reviewed. More pics after the break.

[Via Digg]