  We review novel methods to investigate, control and manipulate neutral atoms
in optical lattices. These setups allow unprecedented quantum control over
large numbers of atoms and thus are very promising for applications in quantum
information processing. After introducing optical lattices we discuss the
superfluid (SF) and Mott insulating (MI) states of neutral atoms trapped in
such lattices and investigate the SF-MI transition as recently observed
experimentally. In the second part of the paper we give an overview of
proposals for quantum information processing and show different ways to
entangle the trapped atoms, in particular the usage of cold collisions and
Rydberg atoms. Finally, we also briefly discuss the implementation of quantum
simulators, entanglement enhanced atom interferometers, and ideas for robust
quantum memory in optical lattices.
