Tiny crystal advances computing
"The system we have developed has the potential to perform calculations that would require a supercomputer larger than the size of the known universe - and it does it all in a diameter of less than a millimetre." Image: alengo/iStockphoto A tiny crystal that enables a computer to perform calculations that currently stump the world's most powerful supercomputers has been developed by an international team including the University of Sydney's Dr Michael Biercuk. The ion-crystal used is poised to create one of the most powerful computers ever developed, with the results published in the journal Nature on 26 April 2012. "Computing technology has taken a huge leap forward using a crystal with just 300 atoms suspended in space," said Dr Biercuk, from the University's School of Physics and ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems. "The system we have developed has the potential to perform calculations that would require a supercomputer larger than the...