Quantum computer scientists build qubit logic gate on silicon chip

A major step towards building quantum computers capable of performing formidable calculations at a fraction of the speed of current machines has been achieved. GOOGLE AND NASA TEAM UP TO ON QUANTUM COMPUTING RESEARCH Nasa, Google and the Universities Space Research Association have announced they are to install a new generation of quantum computers in their Artificial Intelligence laboratories. Professor Andrew Dzurak, director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at the University of New South Wales, said: 'We've demonstrated a two-qubit logic gate - the central building block of a quantum computer - and, significantly, done it in silicon. Scientists at the Australian National Fabrication Facility at the University of New South Wales have designed and built the world's first two-qubit logic gate In a quantum computer, data is encoded in the 'spin', or magnetic orientation, of individual electrons. Nasa's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory uses an enormous quantum computer built by D Wave which needs to be kept superchilled to temperatures just above absolute zero - around -459°F 'We then store the binary code of 0 or 1 on the 'spin' of the electron, which is associated with the electron's tiny magnetic field.'