Quantum Computing Using Nanotubes - Isis Project No 856

A new design of Quantum Computer is being pioneered by researchers from the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford.

Marketing Opportunity

Carrying out high speed calculations using a genuine Quantum Computer has been the goal of the computing community for many years; it would facilitate the practical factorisation of very large numbers and the searching of unordered lists and databases. The rapid breaking of secure codes based on prime numbers would have a big impact in banking and military applications, and would necessitate the development of new cryptographic and security methods to protect valuable data.

The Oxford Invention

The Oxford Invention is a design protocol for inserting filled molecules of Buckminsterfullerene ("Buckyballs") into carbon, and other types of, nanotube. The Buckyballs are themselves filled with molecules that have either an electronic or structural property which can be used to represent the quantum bit (Qubit) of information, and which can be associated with other adjacent Qubits. The improved stability of the system now allows several thousand operations to be executed before quantum interference occurs ("decoherence").

Intensive collaborative work is ongoing to develop the protocol into a working computer.

Patent Status

The technology is the subject of a published International Patent Application and is now available for non-exclusive licensing. Isis would like to talk to companies interested in both further developing and exploiting the commercial opportunity that this breakthrough represents. Please contact the Isis Project Manager named below to discuss this further.

Keywords

Quantum computer, quantum computation, quantum security, quantum cryptography, code breaking, carbon nanotubes, bucky balls, buckminster fullerenes, fullerenes, C-60

Request Further Information: Project Number 856 - Quantum Computing Using Nanotubes