NEVER mind what quantum computers might look like: how on earth do you wire the things up? It’s a serious problem for the scientists trying to build them. But now Boris Blinov and colleagues at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, have found a solution.
In their scheme, each of the computer’s quantum bits or qubits of information is stored in the energy state of an ion. This design has already proved its worth, and a simple one-ion version is up and running. But making a more powerful quantum computer means using more ions, and finding some way to wire them together.…
