We show how entangled qubits can be encoded as entangled coherent states of
two-dimensional center-of-mass vibrational motion for two ions in an ion t
rap. The entangled qubit state is equivalent to the canonical Bell state, a
nd we introduce a proposal for entanglement transfer from the two vibration
al modes to the electronic states of the two ions in order for the Bell sta
te to be detected by resonance fluorescence shelving methods.