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Nature Materials 7, 100–101 (1 February 2008) | doi:10.1038/nmat2107

Quantum information: Positively spin coherent

Guido Burkard

The observation of long relaxation times and high-fidelity preparation promote the spin of a hole in a semiconductor quantum dot to the best position to be a contender for the role of a solid-state qubit. One of the main challenges of quantum information research is to find a materials system that satisfies the requirements for use as the basic element — the qubit. Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), consisting of nanometre-size clusters in which carriers are confined in three dimensions have long been considered an ideal candidate.