quantum computer full article explained

QUANTUM COMPUTER THE FUTURE OF COMPUTING

Will we ever have the amount of computing power we need or want? If, as Moore's Law states, the number of transistors on a microprocessor continues to double every 18 months, the year 2020 or 2030 will find the circuits on a microprocessor measured on an atomic scale. And the logical next step will be to create quantum computers, which will harness the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks. Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain calculations significantly faster than any silicon-based computer. 

EARLY DEVELOPMENTS

Quantum computing was first theorized less than 30 years ago, by a physicist at the Argone National Laboratory. Paul Benioff is credited with first applying quantum theory to computers in 1981. Benioff theorized about creating a quantum Turing machine based on the Turing Theory. 

Shor's algorithm, named after mathematician Peter Shor, is a quantum algorithm (an algorithm which runs on a quantum computer) for integer factorization formulated in 1994. Informally it solves the following problem: Given an integer N, find its prime factors.

Defining the Quantum Computer

THE WEIRED LAWS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS

If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet (Neil’s Bohr). As we are humans we likely to predict it to happen as we likely to think it happens. But Quantum’s laws are so mysterious and weird like Quantum Superposition [existence of an subatomic particle’s in both the states (clockwise and antilock wise) at the same time], Quantum Entanglement (Quantum mechanical phenomenon in which the quantum states of two or more objects have to be described with reference to each other, even though the individual objects may be spatially separated theoretically even by infinity) . An quantum Computer is constructed or formalized on above properties of subatomic particles.

PRINCIPLE OF WORKING:

  The Turing Machine developed by Alan Turing in the 1930s, is a theoretical device that consists of tape of unlimited length that is divided into little squares. Each square can either hold a symbol (1 or 0) or be left blank. A read-write device reads these symbols and blanks, which gives the machine its instructions to perform a certain program. Well, in a quantum Turing machine, the difference is that the tape exists in a quantum state, as does the read-write head. This means that the symbols on the tape can be either 0 or 1 or a superposition of 0 and 1; in other words the symbols are both 0 and 1 (and all points in between) at the same time. While a normal Turing machine can only perform one calculation at a time, a quantum Turing machine can perform many calculations at once

Today's computers, like a Turing machine, work by manipulating bits that exist in one of two states: a 0 or a 1. Quantum computers aren't limited to two states; they encode information as quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist in superposition. Qubits represent atoms, ions, photons or electrons and their respective control devices that are working together to act as computer memory and a processor. Because a quantum computer can contain these multiple states simultaneously, it has the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today's most powerful supercomputers. A quantum computer maintains a sequence of qubits. A single qubit can represent a one, a zero, or any quanturm superposition of these two qubit states; moreover, a pair of qubits can be in any quantum superposition of 4 states, and three qubits in any superposition of 8. In general, a quantum computer with N qubits can be in an arbitrary superposition of up to  2ⁿ different states simultaneously (this compares to a normal computer that can only be in one of these  2ⁿ states at any one time).

Significant Developments in the field :

1.In 2001, researchers were able to demonstrate Shor's algorithm to factor the number 15 using a 7-qubit NMR compute.

2.In 2009, researchers at Yale University created the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor. The two-qubit superconducting chip was able to run elementary algorithms. Each of the two artificial atoms (or qubits) were made up of a billion aluminum atoms but they acted like a single one that could occupy two different energy states

3. In 2011, D-Wave Systems announced the first commercial quantum annealer on the market by the name D-Wave One. The company claims this system uses a 128 qubit processor chipset. On May 25, 2011 D-Wave announced that Lockheed Martin Corporation entered into an agreement to purchase a D-Wave One system.

4. In September 2011 researchers also proved that a quantum computer can be made with a Von Neumann architecture (separation of RAM)

4. In November 2012, the first quantum teleportation from one macroscopic object to another was reported

5. Google Inc. announced that it was launching the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, to be hosted by NASA’s Ames Research Center. The lab will house a 512-qubit quantum computer from D-Wave Systems, and the USRA (Universities Space Research Association). The goal being to study how quantum computing might advance machine learning

Potential of Quantum Computer:

1. The ability of quantum computing to solve problems thousands of times faster than traditional computers is attracting attention of the world.

2. Integer factorization is believed to be computationally infeasible with an ordinary computer for large integers if they are the product of few prime numbers (e.g., products of two 300-digit primes). By comparison, a quantum computer could efficiently solve this problem using Shor's algorithm to find its factors that a classical computer cannot. This ability would allow a quantum computer to decrypt many of the cryptographic systems in use today, in the sense that there would be a polynomial time (in the number of digits of the integer) algorithm for solving the problem.

3.Quantum Computers can be fully exploited in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Physical and Chemical Simulation’s.

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Editors Quote

Although the quantum computers were at the early developments as of that of classical computers in the 60’s and 70’s, the developments are at the peak and growing exponentially and soon a day will come that a classical computer is likely to be replaced by the quantum computer. Then even your (RSA)^RSA  would be broken in no time. So please keep in mind while using your credential details in a real quantum world.