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This is the first ion trap demonstration of a set of logical gates that are universal for quantum computation

If a practical quantum computer is ever built, he says, it will have to make use of different kinds of quantum bits, perhaps atoms for storage and photons for transmission. So teleportation would be a natural way to connect these components, he says.

the discovery will open up a new field of research, and it could lead to a new generation of superefficient light-sensitive devices.

the experiments showed that the electron vibrations resulting from the photons striking the antennas persisted at full strength four times longer than expected. The reason, the researchers report this week in Nature, is that quantum mechanics controls the energy. "It was an utter surprise," says physical chemist and co-author Gregory Scholes of the University of Toronto in Canada. For the results to have occurred, he explains, a property called quantum coherence must have been operating.

the research "will open an entirely new area of biophysics." And that effort should have "huge implications," he says, "not only for how we think about biophysics, but also light harvesting and light-sensitive devices."

In this way the researchers created a superposition state of the resonator where they simultaneously had an excitation in the resonator and no excitation in the resonator, such that when they measured it, the resonator has to "choose" which state it is in. "This is analogous to Schrödinger's cat being dead and alive at the same time," says Cleland.