[Paleopsych] FUTURE COMPUTER: ATOMS PACKED IN AN "EGG CARTON" OF LIGHT?

[Steve Hovland]

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/eggcarton.htm
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Scientists at Ohio State University have taken a step 
toward the development of powerful new computers -- by making tiny holes 
that contain nothing at all.
The holes -- dark spots in an egg carton-shaped surface of laser light -- 
could one day cradle atoms for quantum computing 
<http://www.qubit.org/library/intros/comp/comp.html>.
Worldwide, scientists are racing to develop computers that exploit the 
quantum mechanical properties of atoms, explained Greg Lafyatis 
<http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/directory_pages/detail.php3?id=114>, 
associate professor of physics at Ohio State 
<http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/> . These so-called quantum computers 
could enable much faster computing than is possible today. One strategy for 
making quantum computers involves packaging individual atoms on a chip so 
that laser beams can read quantum data.
Lafyatis and doctoral student Katharina Christandl 
<http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/directory_pages/detail.php3?id=163> 
recently designed a chip with a top surface of laser light that functions 
as an array of tiny traps, each of which could potentially hold a single 
atom. The design could enable quantum data to be read the same way CDs are 
read today.