Now we have to hope that quantum computing comes out in time for Windows Vista.

I wonder what sort of programming language would be needed to manipulate such esoteric devices.

Ion traps aren't particularly clever in themselves, but making them small- and mass-producing them- is important for quantum computing, which is where the research in the article is pointing.

Read up on Ion traps at: http://www.ionsource.com/links/iontrap.htm [ionsource.com]

Also, Wikipedia has quite a bit of useful information, especially regarding Paul traps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_trap [wikipedia.org]

You know I've read lots of interesting application for quantum PC-s, but they are all esoteric, like hacking encryption keys or in scientific supercomputers for .. well simulating quantum level events :)

The progress is certainly interesting, but I everything shows this won't be the future of the mass computing, where running multimedia and office application are more practical usage of technology, and not especially suited for quantum computers (cuz most of you know quantum computers aren't just super fast computers.. they're just .. well odd).

For personal computing we gotta be looking into nano-technology, which also would be compatible with today's PC architecture (i.e. nano RAM in a laptop or nano HDD with SCSI interface for example).

For the obligatory 'but will it run Linux?' question, here's an answer I heard:

Being a Quantum computer, it can both run Linux, and NOT run Linux at the same time.

The devices are made of "Gallium, Aluminium, and Arsenide". The stuff may be called Gallium Aluminium Arsenide, but the element is called Arsenic. If they send you down to stores to get a jar of Arsenide, expect to get left-handed screwdrivers and tartan paint too.

So, the reporter doesn't know his periodic table? I bet he's red-hot at quantum physics, though. Really brilliant and highly trained minds sometimes skip over the basic stuff, yerknow.

Bah.

The chip is placed in a vacuum, which then gets injected with a vapor of cadmium ions. When the appropriate voltages are applied to the electrodes, a cadmium ion with a free electron becomes trapped, floating between the cantilevers above the etched hole. In order to actually use the atom's free electron for computation, Monroe explains, the ion must be probed by a laser beam that reads the electron's spin state.

http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/sun_win d.htm [nasa.gov]

Is it possible for solar wind to affect the ions and electrons making these calculations?

One of the most important caveats of today's progress in quantum computing is Shor's Algorith [imsa.edu].

Why hasn't quantum computing gone further? Well, first you need to know that it requires your qubit to be tied to nearby qubits. When done with electrons, this is difficult because decoherence sets in very quickly.

In the end, they can "compute" with this string of qubits by bathing it in a certain frequency wavelength. What comes back are the multiple waves with the frequencies of all the prime factorizations of the initial frequency. The initial frequency cannot be greater than 2^(# of qubits).

The information I am relaying to you is from George Johnson's [talaya.net] book, A Shortcut Through Time [amazon.com]. Which is quite good.

I would also like to point out that the United States Government Lab in Los Alamos [lanl.gov] has done considerable research [lanl.gov] regarding this.

As a citizen of the U.S., you are funding this project so you have paid for and are entitled to read about their discoveries [fas.org] and I encourage you to do so if you have the time.

The reason for all this research?

"Many public key cryptosystems, such as RSA, will become obsolete if Shor's algorithm is ever implemented in a practical quantum computer."

~ From the Wiki Talk on Shor's Algorithm [wikipedia.org]

Riiight.

What's a qubit?

Zwo-pah ... zwo-pah ... zwo-pah

(apologies to Bill Cosby)