Transport in the quantum world

Abstract

The relentless progression of technology is something we are all familiar with. Computers have gone from filling entire rooms to only taking up some desk space while at the same time becoming incredibly fast. Music was once stored on vinyl records but we can now store hundreds of albums on portable MP3 players. This progression is described by Moore's law which says that technology is getting twice as small and twice as fast every eighteen months. However, this progression can only continue unhindered for so long until it hits a fundamental wall. The problem is that the miniaturization of technology is moving it out of the classical, everyday world and into the quantum world, and devices will soon reach the size of single or few atoms. Whilst moving into the quantum world presents a number of challenges, the benefits far out weigh them. Quantum computers, computers which utilize quantum mechanics, ...