there’s some controversy over what the development of this wire means for the future of quantum computing. This is ironically due to the success of the experiment. Because of the high density of electrons in the strings of phosphorous, the electric current actually behaves classically and follow Ohm’s law. That’s surprising because it would be expected that quantum effects should dominate on that scale. Indeed, that’s why some physicists, including famed futurist and physicist Michio Kaku believe that computer engineers are approaching the end of Moore’s Law. However, if classical effects can dominate on the nanoscale, that prediction may be unfounded.

Indeed, it’s because Ohm’s Law works on this level that leads physicist David Ferry to believe that this is bad news for quantum computing. In an article at New Scientist, he told Anil Ananthaswamy that “[t]his lack of quantum coherence is good for Moore’s law, but it’s bad for quantum computing, because you need quantum coherence for quantum computing. This may make it less likely to occur.”

I think I’m a little less skeptical about this than Ferry is. If electric wires can carry a current on this scale, that shouldn’t prevent, say electron trapping in a silicon imperfection. At least, I don’t see why it would – it’s preserving the quantum state that’s most important, and that wouldn’t happen in the current anyway. That said, I’d love to see this tested experimentally. Perhaps when David Awschalom’s team at UC Santa Barabara is successful at building a silicon quantum chip, it could then be tested with electric currents built into the chip using this technique. That would be interesting to see.