Spintronics memories should store quantum information on the
individual "spins" in the centers of atoms, rather than
electrons, according to University of Utah researchers.
University of Utah physicists stored information for 112 seconds
in what may become the world's tiniest computer memory: magnetic
"spins" in the centers or nuclei of atoms. Then the physicists
retrieved and read the data electronically - a big step toward
using the new kind of memory for both faster conventional and
superfast "quantum" computers. "The length of spin memory we
observed is more than adequate to create memories for
computers," says Christoph Boehme, an associate professor of
physics and senior author of the new study, published Friday,
Dec. 17 in the journal Science. "It's a completely new way of
storing and reading information." However, some big technical
hurdles remain: the nuclear spin storage-and-read-out apparatus
works only at 3.2 degrees Kelvin, or slightly above absolute
zero - the temperature at which atoms almost f