Shuttling Electrons: "Twamley, a professor of quantum information science at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, worked with various colleagues, including theorists from the University of Queensland in St. Lucia, Australia and National Taiwan University in Taipei to develop a quantum nano-mechanical system that could measure the spin of a single molecule and perhaps be part of solid-state quantum computer. Their paper on the subject, “Spin-detection in a quantum electromechanical shuttle system,” appears in the May issue of the New Journal of Physics.

“Part of doing quantum computing,” Twamley explains, “is being able to input and output quantum bits (or qubits). If you are using a charge-based computer, you need to be able to read the charges. With spin-based, you need to read out spins.” Any quantum computer requires encoding quantum bits (qubits) into something. Twamley and his peers propose a readout device that would be able to detect changes in spin state of a single molecule, paving the way for spin-based input/output quantum computers in which qubits are inputted into the electron’s spin, and then decoded in the read-out to provide the asked-for information. "

future trend: quantum computing