Entry No.11f

IT Writers Awards

How small is impossibly small? In the world of quantum mechanics the first rule is there are no rules. Selina Mitchell reports on miniaturisation.

WHAT do you do when you reach the physical limitations for the progression of the conventional computing industry? You find some new rules of engagement, of course. The trillion-dollar computing industry has a major problem: the predicted end of Moore's Law.This law says computing power increases exponentially every 18 months. In 26 years, the number of transistors on a chip has increased more than 3200 times, from 2300 on the 4004 in 1971 to 7.5 million on the Pentium II processor, Intel says. But microprocessors can only get so small before the rules they rely upon to function no longer work, and before fabrication costs become prohibitive. In the miniature world, quantum mechanics reigns. The traditional laws of nature go out the window at this atomic level, and quantum weirdness begins. ``Electrons have both particles and wavelength properties and there's nothing in this world that prepares you for that,'' Quantum Computer Technology Centre professor Bob Clark says. But these strange rules could provide the basis for the next generation of computing. Quantum computer chips, which will be less than a millimetre in size, may be able to generate a billion times more computing power than is now possible. The implications of such processing power are enormous, and the worldwide race is on to be the first to build an atomic-level computer. Unlike 50 years ago, when Australia missed becoming a key participant in the start-up of the conventional computing industry, we may have a good chance at success in this next-generation race.

Clark's centre, the largest of its type in the world, is working to build the first atomic-scale processor, and has already made some strategic breakthroughs.

The ideas that could lead to the development of a quantum computer were first discussed by 1965 Nobel Laureate in Physics Richard Feynman. He talked of manipulating and controlling things on a small scale in the 1959 meeting of the American Physical Society. ``Why can't we write the entire 24 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica on the head of a pin?'' he asked then. ``Computing machines are very large -- they fill rooms. Why can't we make them very small, make them of little wires, little elements -- and by little, I mean little. ``There is nothing that I can see in the physical laws that says the computer elements cannot be made enormously smaller than they are now. ``In fact, there may be certain advantages. ``The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of manoeuvring things atom by atom. ``This is not an attempt to violate any laws. It is something, in principle, that can be done, but in practice it has not been done because we are too big.'' Atoms on a small scale behave very differently to those on a large scale. They satisfy the laws of quantum mechanics, he said. ``At the atomic level, we have new kinds of forces and new kinds of possibilities, new kinds of effects,'' he said. One major advantage is that quantum weirdness allows things to be in two places at once. Conventional computers, thanks to the laws of nature, can only perform one computation at a time, Clark says. Doubling the power of a classical computer means doubling the number of transistors, but to double the power of a quantum computer you just add one more quantum bit, he says. The most powerful computer chips of today are regarded as classical devices by quantum mechanics. ``They are reasonably small but they contain many electrons and you can apply Newtonian mechanics to them,'' says Clark, from the University of NSW. A PC deals with problems sequentially, but a quantum computer could deal with them all simultaneously. In theory, a quantum system computes with quantum bits (qubits) and these could be single atoms, electrons, or parts of single molecules. Clark says 30 qubits would be enough to provide a system as powerful as the best supercomputer already available. ``It's a bigger paradigm shift than the move from valves to transistors in electronics.'' Building a quantum computer is as hard as it sounds. It involves manipulating atoms, taking such a system out of the lab and into the real silicon computer world -- and lots of money and time. Clark says his centre has two strengths: its teamwork and its focus. The 55 academic and technical staff and 25 postgraduate students cover three universities -- the universities of NSW, Melbourne and Queensland -- and use R&D infrastructure worth more than $50 million. Cross-disciplinary co-operation has been vital to the success of the project so far. ``Quantum information is a wide field, but our focus is to get on and build this atomic-scale processor,'' Clark says. ``The silicon industry is coming to a brick wall and the steady increase in computing power each year will stop. ``It is widely accepted that quantum computing can turn that problem into a positive, and you use the quantum barrier to generate a paradigm-shift computer. ``We have a trillion-dollar computer industry out there geared up for silicon, and anyone who comes up with a solution in silicon and can build it will have that trillion dollar business behind it.'' The group has already had two breakthroughs. ``We're trying to put particular types of atoms into atomic arrays that are going to be the processing elements of the computer, so single atoms are going to carry the information,'' Clark says. ``What we did recently -- which we thought was nigh on impossible -- was to create little holes in a covering layer over our chip that are a billionth of a metre in diameter. We have dropped single molecules down these holes into the arrays and we have detected their presence by the height increase that sticks out above the surface by one twentieth of one billionth of a metre. ``These things haven't been done before, and I believe we are establishing a good reputation for Australia in achieving these results. In another strategy, which we call our top-down strategy, we have nearly fabricated what looks like the entire device but the qubits are missing at the moment because we intend to fire them from the top. ``We also have a fine quantum optics presence and the best quantum information theorists internationally, and they have come up with innovative ways in which the optical side of quantum information can be developed into quantum computing.  ``The longer-term goal of our centre is if we can build the chip and we can work out how to get that quantum information down an optical fibre and transfer it from A to B over large distances then we start to move towards quantum internet. ``Over the next 12 months we're going to move quickly to build a few qubit fundamental device to test. If there is a way to make this work we will certainly get there.'' 

Australia may be at forefront of quantum research now, but it will be difficult to remain at the top. But, amid the debate about low levels of research and innovation, and while the scientific community awaits the Howard Government's innovation action plan, the centre received a major funding boost. The Howard Government handed over a cheque for $9 million last week. The funding injection will enable the research team to accelerate its program with reduced risk and purchase the equipment necessary to move to the next stage of research. The Coalition has often been criticised for its unease with picking industry winners. But this time it has gone out on a limb. No-one is sure which breed of quantum computer will drive the new generation of computing -- or indeed even if it be a system based on quantum mechanics.

All players admit the risks are high, but the potential payoffs are huge. It would not only provide a new technology industry -- in itself a dream come true for a country always seeking sources of export income -- but it could also be the way Australia loses its old-economy tag. The special research centre received the extra funding from four keen providers -- the departments of Education, Industry and Science; Communications and IT; and Defence.``The potential rewards are enormous, both economically and socially,'' Federal Minister for Education David Kemp says. ``In short, Australia has a chance to be a major player in the next generation of the computer industry. ``If you think Microsoft, that gives you an idea of the scale of the impact that this research may have on the world and the wealth of benefits that may follow. ``Not to mention, of course, the tremendous value it does in signalling to the world that Australia is very much part of the new economy, the new age in technology.'' Communications and IT minister Richard Alston is just as hopeful. ``There are always risks involved in any activity and what Bob is attempting to do is something that no-one has ever been able to pull off before,'' he says.
``But when we looked at some of the testimonials assembled on behalf of this project it was absolutely extraordinary to see the unanimity of view that Bob Clark's team has stolen a march on the rest of the world. ``It's also understandable that the Americans themselves have been very keen to entice Bob and his team offshore. ``I think what we should all be celebrating is that although there is a very impressive team behind the project there has to be a captain, and in Bob Clark we're really looking at the prototype hero of the information economy.

``I hope what will come from this is an inspiration to other scientists, and people will appreciate that where you are willing to take risks you have a very good chance of getting there. ``We're as excited as you are; we are very very proud of all that you have managed to do to date.'' So the pressure is well and truly on the team to prove its worth and keep ahead of an eager bunch of about 30 other groups around the world. While the Australian team's strategy is only one of many competing efforts, Clark feels it has an advantage due to its focus on silicon. The other groups are taking the let-flowers-bloom approach --
funding lots of different research efforts taking myriad approaches, he says.
He says: ``But we've made a judgment call to base our work on silicon. The government's decision to back us is gutsy, but if it comes off ...'' And the pressure-packed position he is in is probably of his own making. ``Scientists have to clearly explain their ideas and be honest about what is needed to go beyond the ideas to bring economic and strategic benefits to Australia,'' Clark says.

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