Molecular structures appear to be natural candidates for a quantum technology:
individual atoms can support quantum superpositions for long periods, and such
atoms can in principle be embedded in a permanent molecular scaffolding to
form an array. This would be true nanotechnology, with dimensions of order of a
nanometre. However, the challenges of realizing such a vision are immense. One must
identify a suitable elementary unit and demonstrate its merits for qubit storage and
manipulation, including input/output. These units must then be formed into
large arrays corresponding to an functional quantum architecture, including a
mechanism for gate operations. Here we report our efforts, both experimental
and theoretical, to create such a technology based on endohedral fullerenes or
'buckyballs'. We describe our successes with respect to these criteria, along with the
obstacles we are currently facing and the questions that remain to be addressed.