An Australian-led research team said Thursday they had made a
technological breakthrough in the race for a quantum
supercomputer that could revolutionise data encryption and
medicine. Engineers make quantum devices at the Australian
National Fabrication Facility at the University of New South
Wales in Sydney in this undated photo. The Australian-led
research team said they had made a technological breakthrough in
the race for a quantum supercomputer that could revolutionise
data encryption and medicine. Engineers from Sydney's University
of New South Wales said they had created the first working
quantum bit or qubit -- the fundamental unit of a quantum
supercomputer -- with the findings published in the latest
edition of Nature. Lead researcher Andrew Dzurak said the team
used a microwave field to gain unprecedented control over en
electron bound to a single phosphorous atom that was implanted
in a silicon transistor device. They were able to both write and
read information using the electron's spin, or magne