Phys.org  January 31, 2022 Using trapped-ion platform and optical tweezers researchers in the Netherlands have constructed new building blocks for quantum computing that pose fewer technical difficulties than current state-of-the art methods. Since the electric field allows for long-range qubit-qubit interactions mediated by the center-of-mass motion of the ion crystal alone, it is inherently scalable to large ion crystals. The proposed scheme does not rely on ground-state cooling. They studied the effects of imperfect cooling of the ion crystal, as well as the role of unwanted qubit-motion entanglement, and discuss the prospects of implementing the state-dependent tweezers in the laboratory… […]