The technology lets electrons hold data for "hundreds" of nanoseconds versus "tens." That may not sound like much, but that's huge amount of time at a quantum level -- and it could be vital to processing data in quantum computing systems.

This might not stay confined to the lab, either. Harvard is patenting the technology and is "exploring" opportunities to turn it into a practical product. That may be challenging given the use of diamond and the relatively unfamiliar techniques. Should it work, though, you could see quantum computers transform from experiments into real-world machines.