SAN FRANCISCO--Every once in a while, scientists make quantum
leaps in technology. Researchers at MIT may have done just that
recently when they showed off a new state of magnetism which
could lead to quantum communication and storage. Quantum
communication, based on quantum entanglement, which does not
rely on information transmission, would be a near instantaneous
way of propagating information. The change in the state of one
particle would simply change the state of another particle.
Meanwhile, quantum storage is another way to store data on a
much smaller scale, allowing significantly larger amounts to be
stored in the same amount of space. The new magnetism
purportedly comes from a synthetically grown crystal by the name
of herbertsmithite, which acts as a quantum spin liquid. This
means that miniscule quantum states can form inside the solid
crystal which imitates liquid flux for magnetic orientations.MIT
physicists grew this pure crystal of herbertsmithite in their
laboratory. This sample, which took 1