The latest addition to the nanotech revolution - 'nanocables' - could bring quantum computing a step closer. Nanowires combining magnetic and semiconducting materials have been made by Justin Holmes and co-workers from Ireland, the UK and Latvia.   

The nanocables work close to room temperature and could be a first step towards storing, processing and transferring information via electronic spin rather than electric charge. 

A supercritical fluid method was used to grow the nanocables in an anodised aluminium oxide membrane - first lining the pores of the membrane with cobalt, then filling the gaps with germanium. The result is an array of wires, each roughly 50nm across and 90 m m long, with a semiconducting core and a ferromagnetic sheath. 

The sheath's thickness, and thus the nanocables' magnetic properties, can be controlled. This is the key to building more complex structures. This work could lead to new microelectronic components, and eventually even quantum computers. Clare Boothby