I've actually pushed rubidium ions around in UQ's setup, and a bunch of us had a tour and Q&A with the founder. It's incredibly detailed stuff (insane optical t

I've actually pushed rubidium ions around in UQ's setup, and a bunch of us had a tour and Q&A with the founder. It's incredibly detailed stuff (insane optical tables, and weeks tracking down a stray hair that was contanimating the high vacuum system). I'm still on the sceptical side, but some of the tricks they use to move things with atomic-level precision make it hard to imagine there won't be something useful coming out of it. Whether it will ever justify the investment is, of course, another question.