{new}Quantum computing device hints at powerful future

""One of the most complex efforts toward a quantum computer has been shown off at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas in the US.

It uses the strange "quantum states" of matter to perform calculations in a way that, if scaled up, could vastly outperform conventional computers.""

www.bbc.co.uk...

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. and their HERE TODAY!!!

"Now we've solved it, and that's great - but there's many other things we have to do."

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reply to post by darrman


Now we need to be able to manipulate quantum states using grown organics.

We need to undersand how photosynthesis is optimised in nature.

This will take forever to roll out if our experience on silicon chips is any guide.
Do we even have commercial thin film technology yet?

There was an article about methods to make optical computers handle branching logic a while back that sounded plausible for mainstream computer applications.

Takes decades to recoup the initial R&D investments apparently so don't expect the first generation chips to do much.

what would a Quantum Processor be capable of performing?

Practical quantum computing won't really come along until Photonics improve considerably.

The 'problem' with quantum computing and classical semiconductor-derived logic-gate computing is the way the entire system works. Electrons are not being used to process information so much as their potential for movement (voltage) being used.

Quantum computing uses the states of individual particles within a system - since electrons can take hours or even days to physically move across the bus lanes of a computer, quantum computing would be horribly handicapped by a lack of proper data buses (both internal and external).

Photonics, however, is an area of communication and processing that utilizes the photon - which does physically travel at the speed of light, and is inherently compatible with quantum computing. In fact - we already have quantum encryption systems in use today for fiber-optic lines. As photonics mature, the ability to actually export data out of a "quantum processor" or "quantum memory" at a useful speed will arise - at which point we will see "quantum computing" hit the market.

Right now - we've pretty much just been trying to make quantum processing possible. It would be like taking a modern 900+pin socket processor clocked at 3 GHz back to 1982. They could poke and prod around with it and make it work - but since the supporting technologies are so under-developed, they'd hardly be able to use it to any more effect than their existing processors.

We've made the processor and demonstrated it can work..... now we have to figure out how to get it to work.

if they are able to make quantum computers that are somehow linked together then they should theoretically be able to transmit messages from one side of the universe to another instantaniously.

reply to post by lewman


This is not necessarily true.

While we use the concept of entangled particles for "quantum encryption" - spin-states and entangled properties are used as a form of encryption key and error checking on the particles that carry the actual information.

To date, no one or group has used entanglement to send information. The reason being is in the way entanglement works. When you measure two entangled particles, their spin-states will always be opposite (or otherwise predictably offset) each other. If one is spinning "up" - then the other will spin "down." However, these states are constantly changing - and the very act of measuring them often changes the state. Without knowing the state of the other particle, it is impossible to know if the state you observe is meaningful or just 'noise.'

That's my understanding, which is quite limited - and condensed into a single paragraph. Until we understand more, or become aware of additional facets of this phenomena, it does not appear as though it will be the "FTL Databus" holy grail.