Manchester scientists elucidate Quantum computers

A breakthrough has been made by scientists at The University of Manchester, United Kindgom (UK), which could herald a new type of high speed computer, known as ‘Quantum computers’.

Professor Richard Winpenny, of the School of Chemistry and his team made up of international researchers, announced the discovery of a new method which could hold the key to creating the first practical quantum computers.

If built, quantum computers would be the most powerful computers ever made, with speeds millions of times faster than the average PC for some calculations. These speeds would be valuable in factoring large numbers, and therefore extremely useful for encrypting information.

Prof. Winpenny and the research team was also reported to have for the first time demonstrated how qubit rings, pieces of quantum information, could be linked together.

A press statement from the Media Relations Officer of the institute, Mr. Simon Hunter, said the results were the outcome of three years research, opening up the possibility of being able to create quantum gates - a more advanced version of processors found in modern computers.

He quoted Prof. Winpenny as saying, "Linking these molecules not only gives us a much better understanding of how these molecules interact but it also gives us more control over how they interact, which is essential if we are to ever successfully implement quantum gates.

"This is the start rather than the finish in terms of the development of a quantum computer, but now that we have shown we can do this, it gives us clear targets."

Mr. Hunter also said that the full results of the research will be published in issue 40 of the Chemistry Journal Angewandte Chemie, and entitled: "Linking Rings through Diamines and Clusters: Exploring Synthetic Methods for Making Magnetic Quantum Gates."

The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Royal Society and the European Commission, and was carried out in association with The Italian National Institute for the Physics of Matter (Modena) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Grenoble).

Key to the collaboration is European funded Network of Excellence MagmaNet - which recently was been founded to underpin research in molecular magnetism.