Silicon is at the heart of the multibillion-dollar computing industry. Now, efforts to harness the element to build a quantum processor are taking off, thanks to elegant designs from an Australian collaboration.
In July, the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, which is based at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, will receive the first instalment of a Aus$46-million (US$33-million) investment. The money comes from government and industry sources whose goal is to create a practical quantum computer.
At an innovation forum in London on 6 May, hosted by Nature and start-up accelerator Entrepreneur First, two physicists from a group at the UNSW pitched a plan to reach that goal. Their audience was a panel of entrepreneurs and scientists, who critiqued ideas for commercializing a range of quantum technologies, including sensors, computer security and a quantum internet as well as quantum computers.
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