Glenn Cole writes:

>        "Chapter 11 How to Make a Quantum Computer
>         ...
>        "       11.4 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance-based Quantum Computers"
>
>Not a project for junior, I s'pose.

Actually, this is much more benign than it sounds, given the public fear
of all things nuclear. The first demonstration of this technique used a
styrofoam cup filled with coffee (for the caffeine molecules, which
actually did the "computing" in that experiment). Pretty safe, as well as
pretty prosaic. In fact, magnetic resonance imaging (the "MRI scan") used
to be called "nuclear magnetic resonance imaging" until early
practitioners discovered that nobody would stick their head into a
"nuclear" machine.

NMR is used in one (unfortunately) very common product: one of the
various kinds of anti-shoplifting systems relies on little strips of
material that are detected by their NMR signature.

-- Bruce


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