Diamonds are often held up as the paradigm of natural perfection, and the diamond industry – which trades on the idea of rare, perfect goods – is happy to support that idea. The highest clarity grade a diamond can receive is "Flawless" – and this is only awarded to a small minority of all gem-quality stones. After all, natural diamonds are formed through immense heat and pressure over the course of millions of years. Wouldn't a few small cracks or flaws be the most natural thing in the world?

A diamond's flaws could be the key to quantum information storage (LittleMan via stock.xchng)

But outside of the diamond jewelry industry, scientists are tapping into diamond imperfections as an asset. As researcher David Awschalom of the University of California puts it, "we want to build in defects."

Specifically, Awschalom has figured out how to use diamonds to store information, ScienceNews reports.

During formation, nearly all diamonds are exposed to nitrogen, high doses of which will create distinctive yellow diamonds – which are often prized. But it seems that the nitrogen provides added value. A nitrogen atom next to a vacant place in the diamond's carbon crystal (a diamond in one of only two pure forms of carbon existing in nature) provides and extra electron, which moves into the empty spot.

Scientists already know how to change these electrons' spin and turn them into qubits (quantum bits), but Awschalom has discovered how to link the electron's spin to the spin of the nucleus of the nitrogen, which creates a transfer of about 100 nanoseconds.

From diamonds to light? (Illustrative photo by bndrs2 vis stock.xchng) 

Awschalom's system can work at room temperature, unlike some other quantum systems that require extremely cold temperatures to be effective, and could make diamond crystal a desirable material for scientists who are researching methods of storing information in light packets and in building large quantum networks.

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