Calculations with 14 quantum bits
The term entanglement was introduced by the Austrian Nobel laureate Erwin Schroedinger in 1935, and it describes a quantum mechanical phenomenon that while it can clearly be demonstrated experimentally, is not understood completely. Entangled particles cannot be defined as single particles with defined states but rather as a whole system. By entangling single quantum bits, a quantum computer will solve problems considerably faster than conventional computers. 'It becomes even more difficult to understand entanglement when there are more than two particles involved,' says Thomas Monz, junior scientist in the research group led by Rainer Blatt at the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck. 'And now our experiment with many particles provides us with new insights into this phenomenon,' adds Blatt...