World record setting experiment brings quantum computing a step closer to reality

Despite recent successes in the field, creating a quantum computer is really hard. For one thing quantum bits in a super positioned state (or qubits, the basic unit of data for quantum computing) have a hard time surviving at room temperature. Typically, these superposition states last for only a few seconds, but in a recent experiment at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby , researchers were able to keep a quantum system alive for a full 39 minutes.

via Tech News Headlines - Yahoo! News http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/16/oxford-university-scientists-break-qubit-survival-record-are-on?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000589