A team of European researchers at the University of Cambridge has created an electronic device that detects the charge of a single electron in less than one microsecond. The "gate sensor" could be applied to quantum computers of the future to read information stored in the charge or spin of a single electron.

“We have called it a gate sensor because, as well as detecting the movement of individual electrons, the device is able to control its flow as if it were an electronic gate which opens and closes,” said González Zalba, lead researcher from the Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory and the Cavendish Laboratory.

The gate sensor is coupled to a silicon nanotransistor where the electrons flow individually. The innovation represents a new technological sector which bases its electronic functionality on the charge of a single electron.

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