Research Update: Physicists force six atoms to act like quantum "cats"
By Matthew Miller -- EDN, January 5, 2006
In work with ramifications for quantum computing and cryptography, scientists at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) have coaxed six beryllium ions into a state of entangled superposition, in which their nuclei simultaneously spin both clockwise and counterclockwise. The researchers claim that six is the highest number of atoms that anyone has been able to place into a so-called Schrödinger's cat state. (The name alludes to German physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who famously wrote about a cat that, under the laws of quantum physics, had to be both alive and dead at the same time.) The technique, described in the Dec 1, 2005, issue of Nature, could find use not only in quantum computers and encryption schemes, but also in high-precision instruments such, as atomic clocks and interferometers.
National Institute of Standards and Technology, www.nist.gov.
