By Peter Weiss
Physicists have created a microchip that can hold an electrically charged atom and move it back and forth within a narrow channel. These manipulations lay the groundwork for using trapped ions as data bits in computer chips, the developers of the new device say.
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The scientists created the chip as a step toward a new breed of computers, called quantum computers, which represent information using quantum properties of particles (SN: 7/17/04, p. 46: Available to subscribers at Quantum snare entraps key fifth photon). Those potentially mighty, yet currently rudimentary, machines are expected to efficiently handle calculations—for instance, breaking encryption codes used for Internet transactions—that would take conventional computers a billion years.