Diamonds have been admired for their beauty, but they may have an even more practical application.

A team of theoretical physicists, led by the University of Iowa, report that diamonds may be used to speed up computer search algorithms, decode encrypted messages, or provide highly-secure communications by manipulating information at the quantum level—the microscopic world inhabited by atoms and sub-atomic elementary particles. In a new study, the physicists predict coupling defects in the atomic arrangement of diamonds to small magnets will advance qubits, which exploit quantum mechanics to process information more efficiently than ordinary computer bits.  

“We have proposed a practical approach using the response of a small magnetic disk, to couple different diamond defects over distances 1,000 times greater than typical coupling lengths,” says Denis Candido, the first author and a post-doctoral researcher in physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa.

“Although the distances are still short, this is predicted to allow millions of qubits to be within range of communication at once, adds Michael Flatte, physics professor at Iowa and the study’s corresponding author. “These would form a ‘quantum bus’ that facilitates the transport of the quantum information between different qubits.”

The study is titled, “Predicted strong coupling of solid-state spins via a single magnon mode.”  It is the first paper to appear in the debut issue of the journal Materials for Quantum Technology, published by the Institute of Physics in London.

Co-authors include Gregory Fuchs, from Cornell University and Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin from Ohio State University.

The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, funded the research. In December 2018, the U.S. Congress passed the National Quantum Initiative Act, which invests in the research and promotion of quantum information science.