Superfast quantum switch offers promise for hacker-proof computing

The scientists, part of a British-Dutch-Swiss team, used the phenomenon behind the infamous ’Schrödinger’s cat’ thought experiment to create an electronic switch that can turn on or off every millionth of a millionth of a second - one thousand times faster than previous silicon-based quantum switches.

Combining several of these quantum switches could produce building blocks for quantum processors, which could eventually enable the building of super-accurate clocks and ultra-sensitive biomedical sensors, according to the researchers from Imperial College London, University College London (UCL), Heriot-Watt University and the University of Surrey.

The new switch exploits a state of atoms known as quantum superposition, where an individual atom can exist in an excited state - with its electrons in higher-than-normal energetic orbits around the nucleus - and a non-excited state at the same time.

Most famously, quantum mechanics pioneer Erwin Schrödinger illustrated this phenomenon with the concept of a cat in a box that was alive and dead at the same time, with its state not decided until it was observed.