Researchers developing a quantum computer have discovered that one of their candidates for use as a "quantum chip" has a high sensitivity to magnetic fields
Diamonds, it has been said before, are a girl's best friend. However, a team of researchers from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which also included a physicist, recently discovered that gemstones may also turn out to be patients' best friends.
The long-term goal of this research was the development of quantum computers, but it also produced results that could lead to more immediate applications in the medical sciences. Their finding, that one of their candidates for use as a "quantum fiber" has a high sensitivity to magnetic fields, suggests that MRI-like (nuclear magnetic resonance) devices, capable of examining individual drug particles and living cells, can be developed.
The candidate system, which consists of a nitrogen atom inside a diamond crystal, is promising not only due to its ability to sense magnetic changes on an atomic scale, but also due to the fact that it operates at room temperature. Most other devices used in quantum computing or magnetic sensing must be cooled to near absolute zero in order to operate, making it difficult to place them close to living tissue. However, the use of nitrogen as a sensor or switch could avoid this limitation.
A diamond, which is composed of pure carbon, usually contains a tiny level of defects within the crystal lattice. A common defect is a "nitrogen void", where two carbon atoms are replaced by a single nitrogen atom, while leaving the places of the original carbons vacant. These nitrogen vacancies are partly responsible for the famous sparkle of diamonds, since they actually glow: when green light hits them, the two excited unpaired electrons of the nitrogen atom emit a red color.
The team was able to use these slight changes in radiation to determine the magnetic spin of a single electron in nitrogen. Spin is a quantum property with a value that can be "up" or "down", and therefore, can be represented by the digit one or zero in a binary language. The team's latest achievement was to transfer this quantum information repeatedly between the nitrogen electron and the nucleus of neighboring carbon atoms, creating a small electrical circuit capable of performing logical operations (yes/no, 0/1). Reading spin information transmitted as a quantum bit - a fundamental task of a quantum computer - was a daunting challenge, but the team has now demonstrated that by passing the information back and forth between the electron and the nucleus, the information can be amplified so that it is easier to read.
And yet, theoretical physicist Jacob Taylor explains that the findings are "advanced, not revolutionary" for the field of quantum computing and the ability of the medical world to gain practical benefit from its activity. The researcher imagines sensors with diamond tips, which perform magnetic resonance tests on individual cells inside the body, or on substances that pharmaceutical companies are interested in testing - a type of microscopic MRI scanner.
"Until today, these operations were not possible because in both cases the magnetic fields are so tiny," explains the lead researcher. "However, our method has very little toxicity and can be performed at room temperature. The method will provide us with the possibility to "look" inside a single cell and imagine what exactly is happening at different points inside it."
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@ Nir:
Why be so pessimistic?
The MRI institutes will not use such large quantities of diamonds. You don't need a large amount of diamonds to operate these devices. Think practically, who would buy an MRI machine at an excessive cost of diamonds? They will probably work thanks to thin layers of this crystal - so robbers will have nothing to do in these places.
(This was also to reassure other readers who would catch this train of thought)
"Their finding, that one of their candidates to be used as a "quantum chip" has a high sensitivity to magnetic fields, suggests that MRI-like devices (nuclear magnetic resonance), capable of examining individual drug particles and living cells, can be developed."
This sentence reminds me of a sentence like:
My mother, her friend, her sister-in-law, she sells in the store.
"I told you"
P.S. Does this mean that you can use nitrogen for cooling for "regular" heat and reduce costs?
Enticing diamond-based MRI machines will lead to criminals robbing imaging centers and hospitals, not just jewelry stores.
Imagine a pair of armed and masked robbers bursting into an MRI clinic, shouting to everyone "hands up, it's a robbery"...