Quantum information stored for 39 minutes at room temperature

BBC : Storing quantum information—qubits—requires maintaining the stability of the quantum system, which is incredibly difficult because of ever-present quantum noise. The longest previous successes have been 25 seconds at room temperature and 3 minutes when the system is cryogenically cooled. Mike Thewalt of Simon Fraser University in Canada and an international team have now successfully stored quantum information for 39 minutes at room temperature and for 3 hours when cooled. They used magnetic pulses to create a superposition of states in phosphorus nuclei held in pieces of highly purified silicon. Although they prepared the sample at a temperature around 4 K, they could raise and lower the temperature of the system and continue to manipulate the qubits with the magnetic fields. Although it represents significant progress, the system is difficult to create and all of the phosphorus atoms shared the same states. For use in quantum computing, each qubit will need to be manipulated individually.