Big news for ion trap quantum computers. It seems that Christopher Monroe’s ion trap group at the University of Michigan has suceeded in getting ions to shuttle around the corner of a T in their ion traps (their news item is dated 6/11/05, for this result.) This is, needless to say, a crucial step in building a “reasonable” architecture for quantum computing. This kind of thing makes me want to give up my theory license and jump into the lab!
O brave new quantum world!
That’s awesome! I recall from SPS days at Berkeley that Chris Monroe is a really nice guy. I recall he stuck around to answer questions from hapless undergrads way longer than he had to, and answered plenty of email afterwards. It’s nice to root for nice guys like that.