DailyDirt: Quantum Computers Are Both Here And Not Here...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Aug 25th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Quantum computers are starting to become a commercial reality as multiple companies start to take advantage of the strange laws of quantum physics to solve complex mathematical problems. The hardware is difficult enough to build, but assuming the hardware actually exists, programmers now have to figure out how to write software for qubits. Here are just a few links on these new computers that aren't quite ready to replace desktop PCs.

Lockheed Martin bought a D-Wave Systems quantum computer in 2011, and there are a few other customers and partners trying to develop for this particular computer. NASA, Google, and Aerospace Concepts are testing out these new-fangled machines to solve optimization problems and machine learning, among other things quantum information can tackle. [url]
The availability of ultra-pure silicon could make it a bit easier to build quantum computers, and now a straightforward process for obtaining 99.9999% pure silicon is practical. Pure silicon is a good substrate for holding a qubit, as substrate impurities negatively affect the performance of quantum manipulations. [url]
Google has played around with D-Wave quantum computers to study computer vision problems with a few qubits. In 2007, D-Wave had a 16-qubit system, and now it has a 512-qubit computer. It's improving with time, but it's not entirely clear when this system is better than a traditional x86 processor. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: algorithm, hardware, physics, quantum computer, qubit, silicon
Companies: aerospace concepts, d-wave, google, lockheed martin, nasa

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Mason Wheeler (profile), 25 Aug 2014 @ 5:08pm

In 2007, D-Wave had a 16-qubit system, and now it has a 512-qubit computer.

Wow. That's essentially perfect Moore's Law growth. Another 20 years and they'll be mainstream. :P
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- Richard (profile), 26 Aug 2014 @ 3:30am
  
  Re:
  Except that the qubits aren't very entangled - so it really doesn't count.
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- John, 22 Oct 2014 @ 3:43pm
  
  Re:
  That's hilarious and awesome.
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Pixelation, 25 Aug 2014 @ 5:14pm

Schrodinger's computer?
..."Quantum Computers Are Both Here And Not Here".
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- Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2014 @ 5:36pm
  
  Re: Schrodinger's computer?
  Reality bites.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2014 @ 5:43pm

Let me check my cat
Let me ask my cat.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2014 @ 5:45pm

Make encryption obsolete
It would be a significant hit to the Internet if encryption were suddenly made obsolete.
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- Richard (profile), 26 Aug 2014 @ 3:29am
  
  Re: Make encryption obsolete
  Quantum Computers wouldn't make encryption obsolete.
  
  All they could do is to solve a certain class of "hard" problems on which some existing public key algorithms are based.
  
  Encryption would then have to switch to a different class of hard problems or to Quantum Encryption (which itself is nearer to market than the kind of Quantum Computer that can break RSA.)
  
  Furthermore it is not clear in what sense the D wave machine is a quantum computer - since it isn't designed to run Shor's Algorithm and the things it does do can be done faster by better algorithms on a classical machine.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2014 @ 7:44am
    
    Re: Re: Make encryption obsolete
    "Quantum encryption" (actually quantum key distribution) is on the market already, but not really practical because it requires a direct fibre-optic link or line of sight between source and destination. Post-quantum cryptography will likely be practical first.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2014 @ 9:12am

Okay, but does it play Crysis?
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- Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2014 @ 11:51am
  
  Re:
  No, but it does play Quantum Conundrum.
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Ion, 15 Jun 2016 @ 6:11am

Reality bites.
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