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Electron spin in carbon nanotubes

Researchers hoping to use carbon nanotubes for quantum computing -- in which the spin of a single electron would represent a bit of data -- may have to change their approaches, according to new Cornell research.

Cornell physicists have found that the spin of an electron in a carbon nanotube is coupled -- that is, interacts with -- the electron's orbit. The finding means researchers will have to change the way they read out or change spin, but offers a new way to manipulate the spin, by manipulating the orbit.

The research is reported in the March 27 issue of the journal Nature by Cornell professors of physics Paul McEuen and Daniel Ralph and former Cornell researchers Shahal Ilani, now at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Ferdinand Kuemmeth, now at Harvard University. more

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