QuantumComputingtakingyoutoinfinityandbeyond

Themassiveamountofprocessingpowergeneratedbythecurrentcomputershasnotyetbeen
abletoquenchourthirstforspeed.In1965,GordonMoorethecofounderofIntel,noticed
thatthenumberoftransistorspersquareinchonICs(integratedcircuits)haddoubledevery
yearsincetheirinvention.AndhencecameMooreslawwhichstatesthatthistrendwill
continueintotheforeseeablefuture.Fordecades,Mooreslawwasfoundtobeaccurate,with
processingspeedsrampingupfrom740KHzinthe1970sto8,000KHz(or8MHz)duringthe
decadeofthe1970s.Although,sincethebeginningof21stcentury,processingspeedsbarely
doubled,from1.3GHzto2.8GHz.Butaround2000,multicoreCPUsweredevelopedbythe
computermanufacturersthatcouldrunoperationssimultaneously.Whenmultiplecoresare
takenintoaccount,thenumberoftransistorsperchipincreasedfrom37.5millionperchipin
2000to904millionin2009.Eventhoughtheprocessorsspeedhasbeendrasticallyimproved
sincethereleaseoffirstcommerciallyavailablemicroprocessorIntel4004,theprocessorspeed
doeshaveanultimatelimit.

So,willweeverbeabletohavetheamountofcomputingpowerwewant?If,asMoore'sLaw
states,thenumberoftransistorsonamicroprocessorcontinuestodoubleevery18months,in
onlyafewcomingyearsthecircuitsonamicroprocessorwillbemeasuredonanatomicscale.

Andtherefore,thelogicalnextstepwillbetocreatequantumcomputers.

Becausethequantumcomputerscanworkwithparticlesmuchlessthanthesizeofanatom.
Atsuchsmallerdimensions,therulesofPhysicsdonotapply.Thatiswhenthingsbeginto
getinteresting:Particlescanmovebackandforthintime,switchbetweenparalleluniverses
andcanevenexistsimultaneously.Quantumcomputercantaketheadvantageofthis
phenomenaandhencequantumcomputershavethepotentialtoperformcalculations
significantlyfasterthananysiliconbasedcomputer.Theycanbreakencryptionsandprovide
anewformofQuantumencryptionthatwillbemuchhardertocrack.Basically,thepowerof
QuantumcomputingboilsdowntoQubitsinsteadofbitsinthebinarysystemthatcanbe
usedtoprocessalargequantityofinformationefficientlythantheconventionalmethod.

Thememoryofacomputerthatweuseismadeupofbits,whereeachbitisrepresentedby
eitheraoneorazero,anditcanperformcalculationsononlyonesetofnumbers.But
thememoryofaquantumcomputerisasequenceofqubits.Asinglequbitcanrepresent
aone,azero,oranyquantumsuperpositionofthosetwoqubitstates.Notonlythat,buta
quantumcomputercanalsodoanarbitraryreversibleclassicalcomputationonallthe
numberssimultaneously.Performingacomputationonmanydifferentnumbersatthesame
timeandthencombiningalltheresultstogetasingleanswer,makesaquantumcomputer
muchpowerful.
Integerfactorizationisbelievedtobecomputationallyinfeasiblewithanordinarycomputer
forlargeintegersiftheyaretheproductofevenafewprimenumbers(e.g.,productsoftwo
400digitprimes)whichisthekeycomponentofpublickeycryptographicalgorithms.In
contrast,aquantumcomputercouldefficientlysolvethisproblemusingShor'salgorithmto
finditsfactors.Thisabilitywouldallowaquantumcomputertodecryptmanyofthe
cryptographicsystemsinusetoday,inthesensethattherewouldbeapolynomialtime.
Quantumcomputerwith1000qubitsgives21000superpositionstates.Eachstatewouldbe
classicallyequivalenttoasinglelistof10001'sand0's.Suchcomputercould
operateon21000statessimultaneously.Eventually,observingthesystemwouldcauseitto
collapseintoasinglequantumstatecorrespondingtoasingleanswer,asinglelistof10001's
and0's,asdictatedbythemeasurementaxiomofquantummechanics.Thiskindofcomputer
isequivalenttoaclassicalcomputerwithapproximately2300processors.

Oneofthemostconcernedtopicsintodaysworldisglobalwarming,whichisdirectlyrelated
totheamountofpowerconsumption.
Andpowerisacriticalfactorinanytechnology.TheworldsfastestsupercomputerTianhe2,
draws17.6MWofpower.Itisobviousthatahugearrayofcomputersindeedrequiresahefty
amountofpowersupplytosustaintheirperformance.Butwiththehelpofquantumphysics
andtunnelingeffect,quantumcomputerswillreducepowerconsumptionbyafactorof100!

Onesuchprocessorwasrecentlydeveloped
byDwaveSystemsIncorporative.D
Wavesquantumcomputerrunsa
quantumannealingalgorithmtofindthe
lowestpoints,correspondingtooptimalor
nearoptimalsolutions,inavirtualenergy
landscape.Everyadditionalqubitdoubles
thesearchspaceoftheprocessor.At1000
qubits,thenewprocessorconsiders21000
possibilitiessimultaneously,asearch
spacewhichdwarfsthe2512possibilities
availabletothe512qubitDWaveTwo.

Infact,thenewsearchspacecontainsfarmorepossibilitiesthanthereareparticlesinthe
observableuniverse.Andallofthiscanbedonewithonlyafewkilowattsofenergyasmuchof
theDWavehardwarespowerconsumptionslightlylessthan25kilowattsforthelatest
machinegoestowardrunningtherefrigerationunitthatkeepsthequantumprocessorcool.
Theoperationofthequantumprocessoritselfrequiresremarkablylittlepoweronlyatiny
fractionofamicrowattwhichisessentiallynegligibleincomparisontothepowerneedsof
therefrigeratorandservers,saysColinWilliamsdirectorofbusinessdevelopment&
strategicpartnershipsatDWaveSystems.

Therefore,QuantumComputershaveanedgeoverconventionalcomputersintermsof
informationprocessingandevenpowerconsumption.Withonly300bitsandlessthanthe
powerrequiredbyrefrigerators,wecanmaptheentireuniverse!
QuantumComputerswillultimatelyhelpusunderstandtheunsolvedmysteriesofthe
universeandthebeautyofrandomness.

Thehistoryoftheuniverseis,ineffect,ahugeandongoingquantumcomputation.
Theuniverseisaquantumcomputer.
SethLloyd.