Researchers at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have succeeded in controlling single spins in a quantum gas atom comprising rubidium particles.
The spin denotes the direction in which the atom rotates. A microscope designed specially for the purpose was used by the team, who collaborated with Stefan Kuhr and Immanuel Bloch, to examine single particles in an atom system organized in a wavelength lattice.
The finding offers a platform for processing data using atoms in a simulated light crystal such as for a quantum computer. The research will offer new methods to analyze quantum processes. The team could directly study how single solid particles such as rubidium atoms burrowed through lattice potentials. The team captured up to 400 rubidium atoms in a wavelength screen. This caused the atoms to collect in the hollows of the electromagnetic capacitance of the light beams. The individual atom spin was tossed from one direction to another.
A laser was beamed directly through a microscope, onto the lattice. The electromagnetic potential was engraved on the lattice, forming hollows. A monitored differential energy changeover between two atomic spin states was introduced. The changeover took place on the lattice site where the atom responded to the microwave pulse applied to trigger the spin.
According to Kuhr, who headed the research at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, an atom with two spin directions could save the zero and one of a bit. The team is endeavoring to use these bits to develop quantum computers featuring high processing speeds.
Source: http://www.mpg.de/