I have been reading some introductory material on quantum computation and am wondering about some of the underlying physics (My background is in mathematics).
My biggest question is regarding the largest causes of decoherence in quantum systems. Some sources have mentioned random nuclear spin / magnetism as a major contributing source. Others have focused on thermal fluctuations and associated electron motion.
Question: Could coherence at higher temperatures be enhanced by imposing a large uniform magnetic field? It seems that both the nuclear and electron spins would be probabilistically aligned with the magnetic field then, thereby reducing decoherence and possibly allowing a quantum state to last longer. Is this reasoning correct? If not, why not?
Thank you for tolerating this poor mathematician's physical naivete!
