Some implications of the quantum nature of laser fields for quantum computations

The quantum nature of the laser fields used in many proposed schemes for the manipulation of quantum information may have important consequences for some very large scale quantum computations. Some of these consequences are explored here, focusing especially on phase errors and their effects on error-correction schemes. Depending on the way the logical gates are performed, constraints are found on either the required number of photons per coherence time put out by the laser source, or the source's power.