In a heteropolymer computer a linear array of atoms is used as memory cells.
Information is stored on a cell by pumping the corresponding atom into an excited state.
Instructions are transmitted to the heteropolymer by laser pulses of appropriately tuned frequencies. Because of dipole interactions between atoms in a heteropolymer energy levels of different atoms in the molecule are slightly different. It is therefore possible to send a laser pulse addressed to a specific atom or a group of atoms in the heteropolymer chain. But superpositions of multiatom states can be constructed too, and at this stage our heteropolymer becomes a true quantum computer. The nature of the computation that is performed on selected atoms is determined by the shape and the duration of the pulse.