By Peter Weiss
Scientists have been predicting that the strangeness of quantum mechanics will lead to computing and communications devices of unprecedented power. In pursuit of those trophies, researchers have struggled to control the frail, fleeting quantum states of minuscule particles. Now, a relatively simple and robust way of manipulating quantum states may be at hand.
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For years, physicists have been exploiting a quantum phenomenon, known as entanglement, to intertwine the quantum states of charged atoms, or ions. They’ve been able to entangle as many as four ions so far (SN: 4/15/00, p. 255).