Electrical circuits talk to single atoms

If a practical quantum computer is ever to be realized, conventional electronic devices will have to interface with the delicate quantum systems such as atoms or ions in traps or wisps of magnetism near superconducting sensors. A new paper in the journal Physical Review Letters, written by experimenters at several Australian Universities and theorists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) in the USA, proposes one way to achieve this kind of quantum interface. It shows how an electrical circuit can be used to enable the transfer of quantum information encoded in a single ion to other quantum systems, such as another isolated ion.