World's tiniest memory created in atomic nuclei

Posted by Kate Taylor


By coding data in the magnetic 'spins' in atomic nuclei, the team says it's made what could be the world's tiniest computer memory, and a big step towards quantum computing.

"The length of spin memory we observed is more than adequate to create memories for computers,” says Christoph Boehme, an associate professor of physics. "It’s a completely new way of storing and reading information."

However, some big technical hurdles remain: the nuclear spin storage-and-read-out apparatus works only at 3.2 degrees Kelvin, or slightly above absolute zero. The apparatus must also be surrounded by powerful magnetic fields roughly 200,000 times stronger than Earth’s.



Two years ago, another group of scientists reported storing so-called quantum data for two seconds within atomic nuclei - but didn't read it electronically, as Boehme and colleagues have done.