Hi, I'm Roee Ozeri
and I'm in the Physics Faculty at the Weizmann Institute of Science. My group and I are trying to create quantum mechanical systems that are highly
controllable so we can study how they behave. One of our research goals is quantum
computation. Today's computers are based on switches that can be either on or off, one or zero. A
quantum switch could be both on and off at the same time. This is what we call the superposition principle
and this would give us many more computing options. If a quantum computer would be built, it would be able to crack the most sophisticated
codes used today. The superposition principle
poses a hard problem for scientists. That is because immediately if someone tries to observe the superposition it collapses on to one of its states.
This is what we mean when we say
observation changes the result. In my lab at the Weizmann Institute, my students and I are building an apparatus where we trap strontium ions
and make them exist in two states at the same time. In this apparatus,
we cool them to very low temperatures -about a millionth of a degree above absolute zero -
colder than outer space. This apparatus enables us to investigate ways how to use them as quantum mechanical switches.
