The promise of quantum computing is that it will dramatically outshine traditional computers in tackling certain key problems: searching large databases, factoring large numbers, creating uncrackable codes and simulating the atomic structure of materials.
A quantum step in that direction has been taken by Stanford University researchers. Working in the Ginzton Laboratory, they’ve employed ultrafast lasers to set a new speed record for the time it takes to rotate the spin of an individual electron and confirm the spin’s new position.
