http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Quantum computing promises ultra-fast communication, computation and more powerful ways to encrypt sensitive information. But trying to use quantum states as carriers of information is an extremely delicate business. Now two physicists have shown, mathematically, how to gently tease out unwanted knots in quantum communication, while keeping the information intact. Their work is reported in the current issue of Physical Review Letters and highlighted with a Viewpoint in Physics. http://www.physorg.com/news178211021.html Physics Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:20:01 EST news178211021 Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have demonstrated the first "universal" programmable quantum informationprocessor able to run any program allowed by quantum mechanics -- the rules governing the submicroscopic world -- using two quantum bits (qubits) of information. The processor could be a module in a future quantum computer, which theoretically could solve some important problems that are intractable today. http://www.physorg.com/news177515046.html Physics Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:45:25 EST news177515046 Raising prospects for building a practical quantum computer, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have demonstrated sustained, reliable information processing operations on electrically charged atoms (ions). The new work, described in the August 6 issue of Science Express, overcomes significant hurdles in scaling up ion-trapping technology from small demonstrations to larger quantum processors. http://www.physorg.com/news168791155.html Physics Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:26:23 EST news168791155 Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have overcome a hurdle in quantum computer development, having devised a viable way to manipulate a single "bit" in a quantum processor without disturbing the information stored in its neighbors. The approach, which makes novel use of polarized light to create "effective" magnetic fields, could bring the long-sought computers a step closer to reality. http://www.physorg.com/news166182556.html Physics Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:50:36 EST news166182556 (PhysOrg.com) -- Since 1994, when Peter Shor famously showed that a quantum computer could factor large numbers exponentially faster than any current classical algorithm, physicists have been investigating a variety of quantum computing schemes. However, truly scalable, controlled entanglement between many particles remains an elusive goal. In a recent study, physicists have proposed a new system that uses ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice to generate entanglement, which may be a promising method for realizing a scalable quantum computer due to the high degree of control it offers. http://www.physorg.com/news163250271.html Physics Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:18:26 EST news163250271 (PhysOrg.com) -- Highlighting another challenge to the development of quantum computers, theorists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have shown* that a type of software operation, proposed as a solution to fundamental problems with the computers` hardware, will not function as some designers had hoped. http://www.physorg.com/news158417294.html Physics Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:48:46 EST news158417294 (PhysOrg.com) -- Two Dartmouth researchers have found a way to develop more robust `quantum gates,` which are the elementary building blocks of quantum circuits. Quantum circuits, someday, will be used to operate quantum computers, super powerful computers that have the potential to perform extremely complex algorithms quickly and efficiently. http://www.physorg.com/news156101597.html Physics Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:33:49 EST news156101597 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Pittsburgh researchers have created a nanoscale one-stop shop, a single platform for creating electronics at a nearly single-atom scale that could yield advanced forms of such technologically important devices as high-density memory devices and -most importantly -transistors and computer processors. This multitude of uses stems from a technique previously developed by the same team to fashion rewritable nanostructures at the interface between two insulating materials. In the Feb. 20 edition of Science, the researchers demonstrate this process' various applications. http://www.physorg.com/news154277470.html Nanotechnology Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:53:29 EST news154277470 `It's hard to beat the noise that you have with quantum information,` Barbara Terhal tells PhysOrg.com. `So our security protocol relies on the fact that storing quantum bits noiselessly is hard to do with current technology.` http://www.physorg.com/news134127822.html Physics Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:43:42 EST news134127822