One of the challenges with quantum information is finding ways of moving it from one place to another, while preserving its quantum properties. Charged particles, like electrons, are easy to move but tend to interact with stray electric and magnetic fields, allowing quantum information to leak away.
By contrast, neutral atoms do not interact so easily in this way but are difficult to push around without destroying the quantum information they carry. But they would be perfect if scientists could find a way to let them fly freely.
Enter Hansub Hwang and colleagues at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea, and others in Japan. This group has found a way to transport atoms without disturbing them. Their solution is to throw and catch them using optical tweezers like optical baseball gloves.
Optical tweezers were invented by the physicist Arthur Ashkin at the Bell Laboratories ...
