Hartmut Häffner

Imagine a library where instead of books, you have every conceivable combination of a few dozen quantum particles. The number of combinations grows like a snowball: add one particle, and the volume doubles. For fifty particles, there are more shelves than atoms in the visible universe.

A quantum computer is like an orchestra where each ion is a musician and laser pulses are the conductor's baton. But if someone in the audience rustles, the delicate melody of quantum states goes off key.