The University of
Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England has announced an ambitious plan to become
a world leader in superconductor research that will hopefully make Britain a
world leader in developing the computing technologies of the future. The
Cambridge plan involves a GBP £2.7 million investment from the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council.
In an official
news release from the University,
Cambridge officials explain that their ground-breaking project is focused
squarely on a new technology known as 'spintronics'. This technology is based on using a property of superconducting
materials known as 'spin' to process
large volumes of information at ever-increasing speeds. Their biggest challenge
is overcoming the magnetism associated with spin. Right now, magnetism
interferes with data conduction, thereby negating any gains made by
manipulating spin to increase speed.
Previous research
conducted by the University in 2010
demonstrated that, at least in theory, it is possible to power a spintronic
device using a superconductor. Actually doing
so is the main priority of Cambridge's new project. But the university hopes to
go above and beyond that as well. University officials say the scope of their
project is larger than anything else currently being worked on. They have plans to solve the magnetism problem, devise
ways the technology can be used for
future computing, address storage needs as they relate to supercomputing and,
ultimately, build workable spintronic devices that deliver the desired results.
Energy Savings a Priority
Driving the
computing world toward spintronics technology is the need to reduce the power
needs of data centres while still increasing data transfer speeds and storage
capabilities. Cambridge experts say that almost 3% of all the power now produced in Europe goes directly to
data centre operations. And with every data centre build, more power is needed
to keep data flowing.
Superconductor
design is such that when properly deployed, it can increase, or at least
maintain, data transfer speeds at low power.
Combining current superconductors with spintronic devices makes it possible to radically reduce the amount of power that
data centres need to do what they do. Cambridge researchers believe that
successful development of their spintronics technology could be the most
important thing to shape the future of computing worldwide.
Officials at
Cambridge say the difference between their research and what is happening in
other places around the world boils down to the scope of the research. Apparently, other projects are mainly
focused on discovering the intricacies of the spin phenomenon as an isolated
course of study. They say Cambridge is the only institution looking beyond the
basics of spin to develop a comprehensive plan for utilising its properties in
a real-world setting.
The Cambridge
project is certainly ambitious if nothing
else. We look forward to seeing what researchers are able to come up with over the next several years of study. If
their theories are correct, Cambridge University could be on the verge of
initiating a brand new era of supercomputing that has real world implications
for the average consumer, business and data centre.
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