Solve : Quantum Computer a Stage Closer With Silicon Breakthrough?

1.	Solve : Quantum Computer a Stage Closer With Silicon Breakthrough?
Answer» Quote The remarkable ability of an electron to exist in two places at once has been controlled in the most COMMON electronic material -- silicon -- for the first time. "In our case we used a far-infrared, very short, high intensity pulse from the Dutch FELIX laser to put an electron orbiting within silicon into two states at once -- a so-called quantum superposition state. We then demonstrated that the superposition state could be controlled so that the electrons emit a burst of light at a well-defined time after the superposition was created. The burst of light is called a photon echo; and its observation proved we have full control over the quantum state of the atoms." linkStar Trek here we come!!Interesting article, although the reference to Schrodinger's cat isn't entirely accurate. That's usually what happens when a journalism MAJOR writes an article about science. Oh well, at least they usually spell better than I do.Quote from: rthompson80819 on June 24, 2010, 07:53:23 PM the reference to Schrodinger's cat isn't entirely accurate. In what way? The cat isn't dead and alive at the same time. It's status in the box is unknown. The act of opening the box changes the status of the cat. The analogy to an electron was that when you ATTEMPT to measure an electron you alter it's state so you don't get an accurate picture of it.Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I have always supposed that the Copenhagen interpretation says that the cat exists in a superposition of states ("decayed nucleus/dead cat" and "undecayed nucleus/living cat") until an observation takes place. Then the wave function collapses into one of the two states. However Everett, who I am sure you are familar with, says that no collapse takes place. There are various other interpretations that I shall not go into here. It seems clear that there is no single "correct" interpretation of the Schrodinger thought experiment. So your rather definite STATEMENT intrigues me.

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Quote

The remarkable ability of an electron to exist in two places at once has been controlled in the most COMMON electronic material -- silicon -- for the first time.

"In our case we used a far-infrared, very short, high intensity pulse from the Dutch FELIX laser to put an electron orbiting within silicon into two states at once -- a so-called quantum superposition state. We then demonstrated that the superposition state could be controlled so that the electrons emit a burst of light at a well-defined time after the superposition was created. The burst of light is called a photon echo; and its observation proved we have full control over the quantum state of the atoms."

linkStar Trek here we come!!Interesting article, although the reference to Schrodinger's cat isn't entirely accurate. That's usually what happens when a journalism MAJOR writes an article about science. Oh well, at least they usually spell better than I do.Quote from: rthompson80819 on June 24, 2010, 07:53:23 PM

the reference to Schrodinger's cat isn't entirely accurate.

In what way?

The cat isn't dead and alive at the same time. It's status in the box is unknown. The act of opening the box changes the status of the cat.

The analogy to an electron was that when you ATTEMPT to measure an electron you alter it's state so you don't get an accurate picture of it.Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I have always supposed that the Copenhagen interpretation says that the cat exists in a superposition of states ("decayed nucleus/dead cat" and "undecayed nucleus/living cat") until an observation takes place. Then the wave function collapses into one of the two states. However Everett, who I am sure you are familar with, says that no collapse takes place. There are various other interpretations that I shall not go into here. It seems clear that there is no single "correct" interpretation of the Schrodinger thought experiment. So your rather definite STATEMENT intrigues me.

Solve : Quantum Computer a Stage Closer With Silicon Breakthrough?

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