"Diamonds are long-lasting, and one is forever."

Diamonds are the love of young girls, and they are now "changing", becoming the "sweet" of researchers from various fields such as quantum computing to cancer diagnosis.

The world's leading producer of synthetic diamonds, ElementSix, produces ultra-pure diamonds with a defect rate of less than one part per billion. Known as the "magical Russian diamond", the size of the "magical Russian diamond" is only 2 square millimeters. It is pure and clean, and its excellent performance makes many expensive jewels want to take it for themselves. I hope it will add to their icing on the cake. In addition, many quantum scientists also hope to be included in it and use it for it.

The perfect flaw makes the diamond "good art"

For most of 2005, the main task of physicist Jorge Wachterrup of the University of Stuttgart in Germany was to find diamonds similar to this diamond. Finally, his research team conducted a paper on the Russian Academy of Sciences. Screened one by one and found it. In the screening, they read a description of the physical properties of this rare piece of jewelry. However, what makes Wachetrrup deeply fascinated is not the beautiful appearance of this diamond, but its deep inside: this diamond is very pure and has a perfect flaw.

Inside this magical diamond, the regular diamond grid of carbon atoms may be doped with a nitrogen atom, causing adjacent carbon atoms to disappear. Within each hole left after the disappearance of a carbon atom, an electron may be captured. The theory put forward by Vochettrup and other scientists suggests that in some specific cases, the electrons in these holes may be the perfect medium for storing quantum computing information. Scientists believe that the speed and ability of quantum computing can be greatly improved by exploring and utilizing the incredible properties of the world of quantum mechanics.

Unlike other candidates used to store quantum information, these flaws in the diamond work at room temperature. To test this idea, Vochet Trupp's experimental team cut the diamond and sent half of it to Mikhail Lukin, a professor of physics at Harvard University. By the end of 2006, the research teams led by the two had proved that their ideas were correct. Wachetrrup said: "Diamonds show behaviors that we have never seen before. These cockroaches not only do not hinder the brilliance of diamonds, but make them more beautiful."

This research not only made the two scientists famous, but also directly led to the development of diamonds in the field of quantum computing. In 2005, only a few teams were studying the possibility of applying diamonds to quantum computing, and now there are about 75 research teams working on them. This magical Russian diamond has been “smashed out of the top eight” and each research team has a share. Although scientists have done a lot of research, so far, natural diamonds have not been found to be like it, so they hope to make this diamond by artificial methods.

As the number of research teams joining the field grows, they have found more and more useful uses for this ultra-pure diamond. The property that diamonds can use to store quantum information also gives them incredible precision in inducing magnetic fields. Scientists say that this can be used to monitor real-time conditions in living cells. The miniature sensor made with this diamond is 1020 times more sensitive than traditional magnetic resonance imaging technology, and is expected to image cells, allowing scientists to indicate electrical activity in nerve cells; and to observe how cells respond to drugs. Wachetrrup said: "With this diamond, we may be able to solve problems that have not been solved before."

Precise customizationç‘•ç–µ

Diamond enthusiasts are familiar with this flaw in the interior of the diamond, because it is these flaws that give the diamond an unusual color: nitrogen gives the diamond a yellow tinge, while boron gives it a deep blue tinge.

But what excites scientists is the “spin” of electrons trapped in this sputum. The quantum property of spin is a direction: either up, down, or somewhere in the middle, and most importantly, these attributes appear at the same time. This ambiguity and ambiguity are the fascination of quantum mechanics and the necessary features of the quantum unit (qubit). Unlike traditional computer bits, which are either on (representing 1) or off (representing 0), qubits must exist in multiple states simultaneously, allowing quantum computers to perform parallel computations.

But the quantum properties such as spins are very subtle and fragile, and any external "wind and grass" will make it a stunned bird, and immediately escape. The reason why diamonds become qubits is because their solid crystal structure is the "protective god" of the fragile quantum state of trapped electrons, which can help them stay away from the effects of random disturbances. Nevertheless, this spin can be controlled by microwaves and can be read by a laser.

Natural diamonds usually contain strontium, with a ratio of about 1000 atoms (one thousandth of a tweezer), which means that there are too many cockroaches to use them to store information, because these cockroaches will closely "snap" Together, they interfere with one another, making it impossible for electrons to reliably hold any given spin state for a long time. And this magical "Russian diamond" is very pure, sharing about one nitrogen atom per billion carbon atoms (one billionth of a billion).

As early as 2005, the test of the Wachetrrup team has proved that the electrons in "Russian diamonds" may be able to maintain a specific spin state for 1 millisecond, while other systems that can maintain the spin state for such a long time need It is cooled to an ultra-cold state close to absolute zero and must also be placed in a vacuum. In comparison, scientists can use daily laboratory equipment to change and read the spin state of individual electrons in a diamond at room temperature. David Evisalom, a physicist at the University of Chicago, said: "This super-pure diamond has revolutionized the rules of quantum mechanics."

Manufacturers of artificial quantum grade diamonds are trying to achieve purity comparable to at least "Russian diamonds." Unlike diamonds made for jewelry or industrial cutting, these ultra-pure diamonds cannot be obtained by growing a mass of carbon at high temperatures and pressures, but by heating gases such as methane and hydrogen to a plasma state. The carbon atoms can be deposited layer by layer on a template.

In fact, some academic laboratories can make such diamonds themselves, but the biggest source of this diamond is still the laboratory of the “six major elements” company in the UK.

For more than 50 years, the “Big Element” company has been manufacturing a wide range of diamonds for a variety of purposes, initially produced for cutting and drilling. With the rise of quantum mechanics, their diamond business is booming.

In July 2013, the company invested $32.9 million to start a new laboratory near Oxford, England, with the main task of researching and manufacturing a better diamond manufacturing architecture for other purposes. Currently, the company supplies hundreds of ultra-pure diamonds to major laboratories each year for these laboratories to use in quantum fields. Since 2007, the number of custom diamonds produced for special purposes has doubled each year to 1,500.

The custom diamonds are priced at $1,000 per piece, and the "six elements" work with researchers to accurately place cesium into the carbon atom layer and control the concentration of different isotopes of carbon, because this concentration will It has an impact on the properties of the diamond. Jeffrey Scarsbruck, the company's head of research and development, said: "Building this diamond atom by atom allows us to control its degree of well-being."

Making multiple qubits associated is a huge challenge

But creating a single qubit is one thing, and using a number of cooperating qubits to create a functioning quantum computer is another completely different thing. Scientists who experiment with other materials do this. Deep experience.

Since the mid-1990s, quantum scientists have slowly developed several alternative qubit systems, including ions and superconducting circuits that are captured by an electromagnetic field. However, these systems must be in an ultra-cold environment to function.

Nowadays, the main tasks faced by quantum scientists include not only solving the problem that qubits are easily interfered, but also trying to make multiple qubits tightly combined to create a useful system. To date, the world's best multi-purpose qubits can perform simple tasks, such as calculating the factor of the number 15, etc. (this is a typical example of a quantum system, see Nature, No. 498, pp. 286-288) .

Ronald Hansen, a nanoscientist at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, said that in the quantum world, diamonds may be the first to take the lead, and some diamonds are now able to keep the qubits far from interference for a long enough time to facilitate scientists. Do useful things.

For example, Lukin’s research team reported in 2012 that they allowed diamond qubits to last longer than one second. The lifetime of this qubit is comparable to the lifetime obtained by the quantum being captured, and is super The derivative circuit obtains a quantum lifetime of 10,000 times.

In order to do this, his research team only uses the spin of the trapped electron as a messenger, and uses the quantum spin property of a neighboring helium, such as a nitrogen atom or a carbon-13 atom, to store information. This method is 1000 times less sensitive to interference than using electron spin. When electrons are not acting as messengers, they control the spin of electrons. In theory, this strategy can extend the lifetime of qubits to one minute.

Nonetheless, it is a huge challenge to associate qubits together (which includes the "entanglement" of their states) so that they can perform calculations with enemies.

The solution of the Worcester's research team is to make the spacing between the diamonds of the diamonds 20 nanometers, so that the captured electrons can “depend on” enough to become entangled. However, it is difficult for manufacturers to create diamonds with such precise positions. Moreover, this also means that if qubits want to "survive", they need to be able to precisely control the spin of each electron, which is more difficult to do than to upgrade the system.

Hasen’s research team came up with another way. According to the British "Nature" magazine, in May 2013, their research team entangled the information in two diamonds 3 meters away. Thus, measuring the state of one qubit will immediately fix the state of the other qubit, which is a necessary step to achieve long-distance quantum information exchange.

In the latest study, in order to entangle the qubits in different diamond blocks, the researchers used a laser to entangle each qubit with the same photon at 10 Kelvin. These photons will meet and entangle in a half way through a fiber optic cable. In 2007, scientists used a similar method to entangle the cesium ions for the first time; in 2012, the neutral cesium atoms were entangled.

Lillan Childress, a collaborator of the study and a physicist at McGill University in Canada, said that at present, the efficiency of this method is extremely low – a success rate of one in 10 million (or every 10 minutes) Once, but not less than the efficiency of the first capture atom or ion experiment.

“Although the ion and atomic systems are more advanced than the diamond system in terms of interconnecting quantum bits, diamonds have an advantage in connecting long-range processors in the network. The high stability of the diamond allows it to be The quantum computer of the chip works at room temperature, while other quantum systems sometimes require temperatures approaching absolute zero. In addition, building a solid diamond chip assembly line may sound more feasible than making hundreds of ion traps."

Now, physicists, including Hasen, Lukin, and MIT's electronics engineer Dirk England, are trying to increase the frequency of quenching of qubits. Their approach is to build tiny cavities and mirrors in the diamond flakes that will help the photon bombs to bounce and give them more opportunities to interact with the electronic qubits.

Hasen believes that this improved approach may enable scientists to reduce the time required for entanglement to less than one second. Scientists are working on other, better methods, some of which require diamond films that are no more than a few hundred nanometers thick, and these films are cut from larger diamond blocks. Wachetrrup said: "This is really a tormenting and boring life, but it is a work of art."

To date, two research teams have used diamonds to create the most complex diamond quantum computing system, which contains four intertwined qubits. Wachetrrup said that upgrading the system to include 10 qubits requires more people to work together. In any case, experiments have proven that diamonds as quantum bits are a viable option for quantum computing. The biggest advantage is that it can store information for a long time, and it is not expensive, it can be carried out at room temperature, and vacuum is not needed.

Diamond detectors work like small magnets

On the one hand, researchers use diamonds to fight against quantum computing; on the other hand, they are also racking their brains to find other uses for diamonds. These uses have already begun to emerge and are expected to bear fruit soon.

Some of the first researchers who studied the quantum properties of diamonds realized that subtle spin states would be affected by the environment, and that might be useful. The spins of electrons create magnetic moments that allow them to work like small magnets that are very sensitive to the surrounding magnetic field.

Sensing techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging use the same phenomenon, the inherent spins in hydrogen atoms, to detect conditions in the human body. However, in these techniques, getting a signal requires the use of millions of atoms. Moreover, in order to achieve maximum precision, the machine needs to be cooled to very low temperatures. The diamond detector is small enough to get close to its target and get a signal from a single atom. In addition, at room temperature, the magnetic field of an atom affects the spin of electrons, which can be read using a single laser.

At present, scientists are using a large number of diamonds to develop larger sensors for detecting larger magnetic fields; at the same time, they are doing some proof-of-principle studies at small scales, for example, measurement 5 The spin of a large drop of cubic nanometer oil or even the spin within a single molecule.

In 2011, a research team led by Lloyd Holenberger of the University of Melbourne in Australia put nanodiamonds into living cells to monitor and study small magnetic changes in cells. Vochettrup says that detectors made of diamonds can do much in the end: including imaging the structure of a complex molecule (such as a protein), monitoring activity in the brain, and tracking the drug in each cell. Every move, etc.; and, these are carried out quietly and will not have any impact on the living systems they are observing.

Lukin's research team also uses nano-diamond detectors to read the temperature inside the cell, with a precision of a few hundredths of a degree. This diamond detector works by monitoring the sensitive electrons of the captured spin-to-diamond grid. Expansion and contraction reactions upon heating or cooling. Nano-diamond detectors should also detect changes of a few thousandths of a degree, and are expected to be used to inform researchers about biological processes such as tumor metabolism.

However, the manufacture of nano-sized ultra-pure diamonds for micro-detectors is a headache: all companies, including the “six elemental” companies, use deposition methods, but the diamonds produced by this method cannot be the same. Templates are separated. As a result, most of the experiments that have been verified in principle for nanodiamond detectors use relatively inexpensive diamonds that are manufactured by high temperature compression and whose sensitivity is of course greatly compromised.

The England-German team has proposed a better manufacturing method, which is being commercialized by Diamond Nanotechnology, a Boston-based company founded in England and others.

They are made by painting gold palladium dots on pure diamonds and then etching away the dots on the surface to create a series of gold-plated diamond stamps, which they call "nanoglass". Trimmed, the gold on the top is also easily removed, creating a single miniature diamond column. When manufactured in this way, the diamond spins captured by this method have been extended by more than 100 times compared to conventional nano-diamonds. The company is using these nano-diamond columns to build a model of a magnetic field sensor that is very sensitive and uses several electrons to detect the magnetic field.

There is a long way to go

If researchers want diamonds to achieve all of their expectations, then they will need to improve on these products, and, in order to accurately dope and create large, thin films and complex diamond structures, there is still a lot The long way to go.

Completing these special requirements is a piece of cake for many semiconductor materials, including silicon, so Vouchtrup's research team is exploring whether it can reproduce the unique properties of diamonds in semiconductor materials such as silicon.

His research team proved in 2011 that silicon carbide, a relatively inexpensive semiconductor that has been made by scientists for large and thin films for decades, can accept flaws, and The electrons at the edge of the enamel also show the same quantum quirks as the electrons in the diamond. However, these silicon carbide bismuth lack the main advantage of diamond ç‘•ç–µ quantum dots: so far, at room temperature, the electron spin state captured in silicon carbide is only one-twentieth of the time of diamond, which is too short. It does not play a big role in real life.

Several research teams, including Avisalom's research team, have tried to use different methods to increase the lifetime of silicon carbide qubits. Their methods include making the isotopic composition of the material more pure. Moreover, the research team is working with Chris Vander-Waller, a theoretician at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to learn which crystal materials, including gallium nitride (the material used in LEDs). The inner enamel can match the properties of the diamond guilt. England said: "This is undoubtedly a very new direction for application."

In any case, many researchers have a soft spot for diamonds because of their purity and controllable spin state. In these respects, synthetic diamonds also make natural diamonds dwarf. The first "magic Russian diamond" has also been showing and proving its value. Vochet Trupp said: "We still have some in the lab, we use them from time to time, they are still one of the best materials we have."

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