Researchers at the University of Hannover in Germany demonstrated atomic computing based on an experimental micro-optical system. The system, described in the Aug. 26 issue of Physical Review Letters, directed light from an amplified diode system through an array of dipole traps created by the foci of about 80 spherical, diffractive microlenses. Each trap is loaded with rubidium atoms and serves as a memory site for quantum information encoded in the atoms' two hyperfine ground states.

In addition to being scalable, the approach enables selective addressing, initializing and readout of individual qubits either by scanning traps with a second beam or illuminating individual lenslets with spatially modulated light.