Shaped Ultrafast Pulse Optical Pumping of NMR Systems Neil Gershenfeld, Jason Taylor and Phil Bucksbaum Near unity polarization of nuclear systems in atoms has been demonstrated via optical pumping. This relies on pumping specific absorption lines of atoms. Molecules are required to provide enough qubits for computations. Molecular absorption spectra are much more broadband and therefore will require a more complex pumping signal in order to attain polarization. We will be investigating the feasibility of using shaped ultrafast pulse optical pumping to improve nuclear polarization. High nuclear spin polarization is a route to increasing the number of qubits available and thereby the usefulness of NMR quantum computers.

Molecular Quantum Computation Neil Gershenfeld, Yael Maguire, Jason Taylor, Aram Harrow and Daniel Benhammou VLSI will hit fundamental physical limits within two decades. Quantum mechanics is the one resource in our universe that is exponentially large, but has been untapped for computation. We've found that, paradoxically, it is possible to preserve coherence in a quantum computer while still providing external access by using the orientation of the nuclei of atoms in molecules in a liquid to store quantum information, and programming them with radio-frequency pulses.

Table-Top Chemistry Neil Gershenfeld, Caroline McEnnis and Jason Taylor A low cost UV-Vis spectrometer is being constructed for widespread use in developing nations. Consumer digital cameras have driven down the price of digital imaging chips; the spectrometer uses digital imaging to obtain a spectrum. This image is then sent to a computer and processed to produce an absorbance spectrum. Currently the spectrometer distinguishes between colors and varying concentrations of test material and produces spectral data consistent with a commercial UV-Vis spectrometer. When finished, the spectrometer will be capable of food analysis and chemical and biochemical experiments. Future work will include the development of IR spectrometers and mass spectrometers.

ThinkCycle: Open Collaborative Design Alex (Sandy) Pentland, Neil Gershenfeld, Mitchel Resnick, Nitin Sawhney, Saul Griffith, Yael Maguire, Benjamin Vigoda, Jason Taylor, Leo Burd The Internet allows us to link millions of people worldwide and to solve computationally intensive problems by using the spare processor cycles of thousands of computers. We have not, however, developed an analogous method for using the creative "thinkcycles" of people everywhere to work on the challenges of our communities and the environment. ThinkCycle seeks to create a culture of open-source design innovation for design challenges facing underserved communities and the environment, with ongoing collaboration among individuals, communities and organizations around the world. ThinkCycle provides a shared online space for designers, engineers, domain experts and stakeholders to discuss, exchange and construct ideas for open collaborative design. Over the last 2 years Design that Matters, an experimental design studio course at MIT, has brought together multi-disciplinary teams of students to develop sustainable engineering solutions in critical problem domains.