Abstract

Recently, the entangled quantum mechanical states of a system of distinguishable microscopic particles have attracted attention for their use in information storage and processing. According to a proposal by Cirac and Zoller,¹ a chain of ions can be used to store information in the electronic states of the individual ions, and coupling of the electronic states to a collective vibrational state of the chain should allow processing of this information.

© 1998 Optical Society of America