Oct 20, 2015 08:18 PM
Quantum Computers Get Real
EXCERPT: [...] It's now more than thirty years since the infatuation with quantum computers first took hold, when Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman realised that these hypothetical machines could potentially boost our technological capabilities beyond our wildest imaginations. Move into the real world, however, and the situation is very different from what was once promised. The challenge is working out how to translate the fairytale into reality: how to store and manipulate bits of quantum information, or qubits, on a large enough scale that they create a working quantum computer....
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What Can Quantum Computers Do?
EXCERPT: If you hear in the news that someone's built a quantum computer you better block your credit card quick. All the methods that are used to encrypt your card details when you buy something online could be cracked by such a computer within seconds. And it's not only your bank details — classified information from all sources would become transparent instantly. Many sensational claims have been made about quantum computers, but this one is true. Current encryption methods use mathematical problems that nobody knows how to crack on an ordinary computer, but which can easily be dealt with using a quantum computer. What else can we say about the power of quantum computers, compared to ordinary ones?...
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Quantum computing: Some (not so) gruesome details
EXCERPT: In the previous article we gave you a rough idea of the physical processes quantum computers exploit in order to be more powerful than ordinary ones. Or would exploit, if it were possible to build large-scale quantum computers powerful enough to perform useful tasks. While this prospect is still some decades away, people do understand quite a lot of theory of quantum computation. Using the mathematics of quantum mechanics and logic, you can figure out what quantum algorithms can do even if you don't have an actual computer. In this article we look at one such algorithm in more detail: it's a simpler version of the one developed by Deutsch and Jozsa that is discussed in the previous article. You don't need to be familiar with the maths of quantum mechanics, as we'll guide you through the algorithm giving you as much information as you need....
EXCERPT: [...] It's now more than thirty years since the infatuation with quantum computers first took hold, when Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman realised that these hypothetical machines could potentially boost our technological capabilities beyond our wildest imaginations. Move into the real world, however, and the situation is very different from what was once promised. The challenge is working out how to translate the fairytale into reality: how to store and manipulate bits of quantum information, or qubits, on a large enough scale that they create a working quantum computer....
- - - - - - -
What Can Quantum Computers Do?
EXCERPT: If you hear in the news that someone's built a quantum computer you better block your credit card quick. All the methods that are used to encrypt your card details when you buy something online could be cracked by such a computer within seconds. And it's not only your bank details — classified information from all sources would become transparent instantly. Many sensational claims have been made about quantum computers, but this one is true. Current encryption methods use mathematical problems that nobody knows how to crack on an ordinary computer, but which can easily be dealt with using a quantum computer. What else can we say about the power of quantum computers, compared to ordinary ones?...
- - - - - - -
Quantum computing: Some (not so) gruesome details
EXCERPT: In the previous article we gave you a rough idea of the physical processes quantum computers exploit in order to be more powerful than ordinary ones. Or would exploit, if it were possible to build large-scale quantum computers powerful enough to perform useful tasks. While this prospect is still some decades away, people do understand quite a lot of theory of quantum computation. Using the mathematics of quantum mechanics and logic, you can figure out what quantum algorithms can do even if you don't have an actual computer. In this article we look at one such algorithm in more detail: it's a simpler version of the one developed by Deutsch and Jozsa that is discussed in the previous article. You don't need to be familiar with the maths of quantum mechanics, as we'll guide you through the algorithm giving you as much information as you need....