Quantum Computing
Quantum computing is the use of quantum-mechanical phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to perform computation. Computers that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers.
Quantum computers perform calculations based on the probability of an object’s state before it is measured — instead of just 1s or 0s — which means they have the potential to process exponentially more data compared to classical computers.
Salient features are as follows
Harnesses the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks
Parallel Processing — millions of operations at a time
30-qubit quantum computer equals the processing power
of conventional computer that running at 10 teraflops
(trillions of floating-point operations per second).
Integer Factorization
Impossible for digital computers to factor large numbers which are the products of two primes of nearly equal size.Quantum Computer with 2n qubits can factor numbers with lengths of n bits (binary)
Quantum Database Search
Example: To search the entire Library of Congress for one’s name given an unsorted database…Classical Computer — 100 years,Quantum Computer — ½ second
Recently Google’s quantum computer solved a very complex math problem in just 3 minutes 20 seconds whereas even the world’s fastest supercomputer took at least 10000 years to solve this problem. We can understand that laptops and desktop computers are nothing in front of quantum computer .
• Evolution of Quantum Computing Begins:
Quantum Computing was introduced in 1981 by Paul Benioff. He also introduced the idea of making computers keeping in mind the rules on quantum theory. At that time it was not paid much heed. In 1984, David Deutsch of Oxford University, accepted the idea as correct on the basis of facts and wrote a research paper on it. This started the race for quantum computing. Now companies like Google, Microsoft IBM are engaged in making quantum computers.
• Performance better than a Supercomputer:
A traditional computer can store data in only 4 configurations(00, 01,10 and 11) that too will be a single connection at a time, but using quantum theory, these four combinations can be used simultaneously, so that the computers efficiency increases manifold.
• Compared to traditional computing, much higher speed :
Traditional computing works in 0 and 1 switching mode. It shows 0 as off and 1 as on. All the data fed into the computer converts to zero and one, after which further processing takes place.
If you want to write this word — “Google”, it will read it as 01000111 0110111101101111 01100111 0110110001100101. Computer works by collecting all the data and working on it. In quantum computing, computer reads all the possible combination and superimposition of zero and one, due to which its speed increases manifold as compared to traditional computers.
• Super Computers are based on Quantum Theory :
In the year 1900, Max Planck created quantum theory to understand energy and matter. On the basis of this, smaller elements like photon and proton etc. are studied. According to this theory, the smaller elements can take the form of energy and matter at the same time. On the basis of this theory, Multi-verse (as in Uni-verse) concept has been formulated. This theory can also be understood in this way, that same event can have different results in different universe.
• Issues in making Quantum Computers :
According to the present technology, a quantum computer can be made, but for that special things have to be taken care of, such as, it works only at absolute zero (-273.15 c) temperature. Besides this, programming for quantum computing also has to be taken care off, otherwise the whole computer will be destroyed and the results will be wrong.
Research References
http://www.qubit.org
http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~westside/quantum-intro.html
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/quantum-computer1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computers
http://www.carolla.com/quantum/QuantumComputers.htm