Electron Traps That Compute
ScienceDaily (May 27, 2008) —
ETH Zurich physicists have used a semiconductor material to
create superimposed quantum dots that “trap” single electrons.
Not only can these dots be studied with lasers, their energy can
be influenced as well. Another point: the state of one of the
dots governs that of the other above it. This has taken the
researchers another step closer to quantum computers.
The scanning force microscope reveals quantum dots, which
arrange themselves randomly. (Credit: Image courtesy of ETH
Zurich)
ETH Zurich quantum physicists have developed a semiconductor
system that can be used for quantum computing if need be. They
“grew” a gallium arsenide crystal. On top of that they applied
two layers of indium-gallium arsenide from which tiny bubbles,
the quantum dots, formed. The blobs in the second layer grew
directly above those in the first layer. Lucio Robledo, first
author of a paper published in Science, says “This kind of dot
is like an artificial atom only bigger, and two superimposed
dots constitute an artificial molecule.”
The Quantum Photonics Group researchers of ETH Zurich led by
Ataç Imamoglu finally succeeded in populating these quantum dots
with single electrons and were able to manipulate them with
lasers and analyse their properties. The physicists determined
exactly how many electrons were present in one of their
semiconductor system’s quantum dots. Above all, however, they
were able to imprison the charged particles in them
individually.
Electrons as bits
Each electron in turn has a particular spin, i.e. it rotates in
one direction around its own axis and is thus rather like a
quantum magnet with quantum-mechanical properties. Research in
theoretical and experimental quantum physics has focused for
many years on gaining a better understanding of these properties
and control over them.
Using the electron spin to carry encoded information was also
already suggested several years ago. The information elements in
a normal computer are bits with values of zero or one. This is
not so with quanta, which can occupy both states simultaneously.
This means an electron has two different spin orientations at
the same time. Jeroen Elzerman, a co-author of the study,
stresses that “This is one of the fundamental mysteries of the
quantum world.” However, he says this enables numerous computing
operations to be performed simultaneously and allows a
computer’s speed to be increased many times over.
Optical control
The Quantum Photonics Group researchers finally used two coupled
quantum dots to study their semiconductor system, because these
govern one another reciprocally. The state of one dot influences
that of the one above it, and vice versa. On top of that, the
ETH Zurich physicists were able to control these states
optically from the outside, i.e. by excitation with a laser.
Robledo says “We found a way to make quantum dots interact with
one another and to communicate in a controlled fashion.” The
controlled interaction presented in the study could be a
suitable way to carry out fundamental quantum operations.
This optical manipulation of quantum dot spins is an important
step forward for the Quantum Photonics Group researchers. For
example they were able to set an electron’s spin state in a
particular direction with high reliability, and also read it out
again. The physicists were also able to couple individual
quantum dots to optical nano-resonators.
Scale-up capability unsolved
Despite these impressive successes, Ataç Imamoglu hesitates to
regard quantum dots as the most promising route to quantum
computers, because a large amount of physics at the nano-scale
still needs to be deciphered. In addition the architecture of a
quantum computer would have to be expandable in a modular way as
with a conventional computer – by which he means transistors as
the structural element of chips – to enable thousands more to be
added to these two quantum bits. The researchers still need to
find a solution to this challenge facing quantum dots first of
all.