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Science 5 June 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5932, pp. 1277 - 1278
DOI: 10.1126/science.1169554
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Perspectives

Physics:

Dealing with Decoherence

Jan Fischer and Daniel Loss

The dream of building computers that work according to the rules of quantum mechanics has strongly driven research over the past decade in many fields of basic and applied sciences, including physics, chemistry, and computer science. About 10 years ago, it was shown mathematically that the direct use of quantum phenomena such as interference and entanglement could crucially speed up data searching and prime factorization for encryption. To turn quantum computers into reality, however, many issues in engineering and in basic physics need to be addressed.

Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.

E-mail: jan.fischer{at}unibas.ch; daniel.loss{at}unibas.ch

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)