First tunable, noiseless amplifier created

BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. government scientists say they've created the first tunable "noiseless" amplifier -- an achievement that can boost the precision of quantum computing.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and JILA, a joint institute of the NIST and the University of Colorado, said conventional amplifiers add unwanted "noise," or random fluctuations, when they measure and boost electromagnetic signals. Amplifiers that theoretically add no noise have been demonstrated before but the new technology offers better performance and is the first to be tunable, operating between 4 gigahertz and 8 gigahertz.

JILA group leader Konrad Lehnert said it's also the first amplifier of any type to boost signals sufficiently to overcome noise generated by the next amplifier in a series along a signal path -- a valuable feature for building practical systems.

The process was detailed online in the Oct. 5 issue of the journal Nature Physics.