World’s smallest diamond ring created, could be used for computing

Scientists at the University of Melbourne in Australia have created the world’s smallest diamond ring, measuring a measly 5 microns (millionths of a meter) in diameter and 300 nanometers (billionths of a meter) in thickness.

Granted, this tiny ring probably isn’t what you want to use to propose. However, if you happen to be a scientist developing quantum information processing, then this ring just might be a fit for you.

The ring is used as part of a device that can produce and detect single particles of light, called photons. These photons, set in different states, can carry information. However, unlike today’s computer memory which can hold either a 1 or 0 at each bit, they can hold both states at once.

If scientists can figure out how to take advantage of this property, they could expand the possibilities for computer memory and storage. This is a brand new development, so applications for the ring are obviously very scant. Hopefully we will see some clever uses in time, such as using the ring to increase the amount of data we can store in a certain amount of space.