Electron loop

An electron loop is a spintronic device used for manipulating electron spin for quantummechanical calculations. It does not however reach full quantum speedup, but it does let smaller devices work significantly faster than with traditional semiconductor transistors.

The device consists of two tubes, one usually arrayed as a coil, with both a superconducting wire in the center. A device at the start of the main tube regulates the frequency of electrons. Increased frequency leads to more instability and an increased difficulty in measuring, but also leads to a higher speed. The first electon loops used frequencies around 100 Hz.

Every so often a manipulator is installed around the wire, which uses magnetic and electric force to manipulate the spin of the electron. At the end of the loop the spin of the electron is measured, giving an output. By using the second tube as a kind of regulating wire, such as in a transistor, the manipulator decides whether to manipulate the electron yes or no. The reason a second tube is used instead of a normal wire, is that its speed is significantly higher.

For more complex operations, manipulators can also be installed on the second tube. Increasing the amount of manipulators on the tubes increases the highest possible complexity of the operation.

History
Luuk Werger, a Dutch physicist who worked with Leo Kouwenhoven (leader of a Dutch team that developed the first majorana-based quantumcomputer), constructed the first electron loop in 2019, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 2023 after releasing a significantly refined version.

Luuk Werger subsequently founded Werger Spintronics in 2024 with funding he received for his design. The original electron loop was almost 2 by 3 m, and was roughly equal in computational power to the average processor in the 1990s. The WEL4 (Werger Electron Loop v4), released in 2026 however was just 10 by 15 cm and had a computational power equal to the first generation of carbon nanostructure processors in the late 2010s.

The electron loop technology completely eclipsed traditional processors in the 2030s (the WEL6 is usually credited for this feat, it also was the first electron loop to printed on a flat chip of around 5 x 5 cm) and became the dominant computing device around 2040. The successor of Werger's original corporation remained one of the pivotal players in the computer industries for over two centuries.