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A SOLID that can store quantum information by stopping light dead in its
tracks has brought the possibility of a practical quantum computer a step
closer.

Most experiments in quantum computing involve storing information in the
quantum state of an atom. Such states are easily disturbed, leading to a loss of
information. So stabilising quantum particles is a key step on the road to
building a practical quantum computer.

Last year, two American teams looked set to solve this problem when they
slowed, and eventually froze, a light beam in an atomic gas, thereby storing its
information stably among…

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