Blitzkommando
Jul 12, 2008, 02:25 AM
Scientists funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research have used a single photon technique to observe the evolution of individual electron spins in semiconductor nanostructures.
Their work has already contributed to the new field of semiconductor spintronics - an emerging technology which exploits the spin of electrons that makes them perform like tiny magnets. By using spintronics in quantum computing, scientists will be able to control electrons and create higher speed technologies that are impossible in present-day electronic equipment.
Dr. David Awschalom, professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is coordinating the research. He and his team are exploring the benefits of electronic devices using spintronics to power quantum computers made of diamond.
Pretty amazing stuff when you think about it. At the moment the smallest transistors are 10 atoms in size (http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2008/04/18/43566/manchester-university-makes-single-atom-graphene-transistor.htm). This is one of the first steps towards quantum computing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer) which may bring the death of the transistor in favor of other computing methods. Potentially, a quantum computer could do calculations thousands or millions times faster than today's most powerful supercomputers (http://www.top500.org/).
The main reason this excites me is that I am a futurist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurist). As such, I spend more time thinking about tomorrow and what could develop. If such a powerful computer were constructed it could potentially solve issues at the heart of the technology that I find most fascinating, space travel. It is entirely possible we could advance in a decade what would take us today several centuries. This prospect excites me in that it could usher in travel beyond our solar system far faster than we could possibly anticipate, or even hope for today. With the work being done with supercolliders combined with a quantum computer we could look at technology that could make such endeavors possible. And not just possible, but feasible and obtainable.
My view is that the future is going towards a technological singularity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity) rather than the dystopic worlds like Blade Runner or The Running Man. When we first took flight we realized what a Pandora's Box we opened. We realized that we could never look back to earth and be satisfied, that we would always strive for higher, and faster, travel beyond. With these technologies that are developing today we may finally achieve that should we continue to strive for it.
I realize that news articles are a bit of a taboo, but I have a feeling most (if not all) forumgoers haven't even heard of the AFMC website. While AFMC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Materiel_Command) would not be the command in charge of the research, they would be in charge of the procurement and funding. It's a bit of a local topic for me as well as AFMC HQ is about 15 miles from my house as is part of AFRL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Research_Laboratory).
Hopefully others here are as excited as I am about what the future holds with today's research. I hope this also might be a little realization that the military does much in the way of research that would be applied to advance the civilian sector as well as I've seen many who think that they only research weapons. I really hope it spurs an interest for people to read up just a little bit on just what all AFRL does as an example. Unfortunately, it seems another branch that gets placed on the backburner when it comes to funding is NASA. The advancements brought about through their research are just as impressive as the military's (if not moreso in numerous aspects) and I feel it is an utter shame that research and technology are shafted in favor of the pet projects of politicians.
Brief article at AFMC's website (http://www.afmc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123105953)
Their work has already contributed to the new field of semiconductor spintronics - an emerging technology which exploits the spin of electrons that makes them perform like tiny magnets. By using spintronics in quantum computing, scientists will be able to control electrons and create higher speed technologies that are impossible in present-day electronic equipment.
Dr. David Awschalom, professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is coordinating the research. He and his team are exploring the benefits of electronic devices using spintronics to power quantum computers made of diamond.
Pretty amazing stuff when you think about it. At the moment the smallest transistors are 10 atoms in size (http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2008/04/18/43566/manchester-university-makes-single-atom-graphene-transistor.htm). This is one of the first steps towards quantum computing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer) which may bring the death of the transistor in favor of other computing methods. Potentially, a quantum computer could do calculations thousands or millions times faster than today's most powerful supercomputers (http://www.top500.org/).
The main reason this excites me is that I am a futurist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurist). As such, I spend more time thinking about tomorrow and what could develop. If such a powerful computer were constructed it could potentially solve issues at the heart of the technology that I find most fascinating, space travel. It is entirely possible we could advance in a decade what would take us today several centuries. This prospect excites me in that it could usher in travel beyond our solar system far faster than we could possibly anticipate, or even hope for today. With the work being done with supercolliders combined with a quantum computer we could look at technology that could make such endeavors possible. And not just possible, but feasible and obtainable.
My view is that the future is going towards a technological singularity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity) rather than the dystopic worlds like Blade Runner or The Running Man. When we first took flight we realized what a Pandora's Box we opened. We realized that we could never look back to earth and be satisfied, that we would always strive for higher, and faster, travel beyond. With these technologies that are developing today we may finally achieve that should we continue to strive for it.
I realize that news articles are a bit of a taboo, but I have a feeling most (if not all) forumgoers haven't even heard of the AFMC website. While AFMC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Materiel_Command) would not be the command in charge of the research, they would be in charge of the procurement and funding. It's a bit of a local topic for me as well as AFMC HQ is about 15 miles from my house as is part of AFRL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Research_Laboratory).
Hopefully others here are as excited as I am about what the future holds with today's research. I hope this also might be a little realization that the military does much in the way of research that would be applied to advance the civilian sector as well as I've seen many who think that they only research weapons. I really hope it spurs an interest for people to read up just a little bit on just what all AFRL does as an example. Unfortunately, it seems another branch that gets placed on the backburner when it comes to funding is NASA. The advancements brought about through their research are just as impressive as the military's (if not moreso in numerous aspects) and I feel it is an utter shame that research and technology are shafted in favor of the pet projects of politicians.
Brief article at AFMC's website (http://www.afmc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123105953)