A trapped ion quantum computer is a type of quantum computer. Ions, or charged atomic particles, can be confined and suspended in free space using electromagnetic fields. Qubits are stored in stable electronic states of each ion, and quantum information can be processed and transferred through the collective quantized motion of the ions in the trap (interacting through the Coulomb force). Lasers are applied to induce coupling between the qubit states (for single qubit operations) or coupling between the internal qubit states and the external motional states (for entanglement between qubits).
The fundamental operations of a quantum computer have been demonstrated experimentally with high accuracy (or "high fidelity" in quantum computing language) in trapped ion systems. Promising schemes in development to scale the system to arbitrarily large numbers of qubits include shuttling ions in an array of ion traps, building large entangled states via photonically connected networks of remotely entangled ion chains, and combinations of these two ideas. This makes the trapped ion quantum computer system one of the most promising architectures for a scalable, universal quantum computer. As of May 2011, the largest number of particles to be controllably entangled is 14 trapped ions.
Read more about Trapped Ion Quantum Computer: History of The Paul Trap, History of Trapped Ion Quantum Computing, Components of A Quantum Computer, Experimental Research Groups, Recent Developments
Famous quotes containing the words trapped, quantum and/or computer:
“We take refuge in illness and then are trapped there.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“A personality is an indefinite quantum of traits which is subject to constant flux, change, and growth from the birth of the individual in the world to his death. A character, on the other hand, is a fixed and definite quantum of traits which, though it may be interpreted with slight differences from age to age and actor to actor, is nevertheless in its essentials forever fixed.”
—Hubert C. Heffner (1901–1985)
“What, then, is the basic difference between today’s computer and an intelligent being? It is that the computer can be made to see but not to perceive. What matters here is not that the computer is without consciousness but that thus far it is incapable of the spontaneous grasp of pattern—a capacity essential to perception and intelligence.”
—Rudolf Arnheim (b. 1904)