History of Computers - Quantum Computer
A Quantum Computer[1] is a computer that is based on the principles of quantum mechanics. These principles allow quantum computers to calculate data a lot faster than their equivalent of normal computers. A basic unit of a quantum computer is a qubit.
Overview
Quantum computers are based on simple units, called qubits[2]. The difference between a bit and a qubit is that a bit can only display one of 2 numbers, 1 or 0, while a qubit can theoretically display 1, 0 or a superposition of both. The potential of quantum computers is obvious, since the more qubits that are present and working together, the exponentially more problems it would be able to solve than a standard binary computer. The modern quantum computers work by utilizing NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance[3], to change and/or identify the position of a qubit's vector.
Significance
Quantum computers are important, even though they are still in their infancy. Their importance consists in their ability to run exponentially faster than their equivalents in normal computers. When quantum computers get many more qubits than the few tens that are used today, they will most likely become the main personal computers of the twenty first century. Their importance for now lies in their huge potential. Quantum computers will let us solve much more complicated or broader problems that relate to optimization. Optimization problems are problems where one want to find the best solution out of many possible solutions.[4]
Drawbacks
Quantum computing is severely limited in the modern day because of the issue of decoherence - we can't keep Quantum states in their States for long. A solution to this is cooling down the computer, however such an approach is incredibly inefficient and bulky. Even though quantum computing speeds up processing speeds, the increased processing speeds only have a major impact in research applications where many different scenarios will need to be analyzed, thus, quantum computing might not be the ideal gaming platform for prospective gamers which will mostly just require better graphics cards.
References
- ↑ [1] Quantum Computer Wikipedia page
- ↑ [2] Qubit Wikipedia page
- ↑ [3] NMR Wikipedia page
- ↑ https://www.research.ibm.com/ibm-q/
Links
- An Easy Guide of How Quantum Computers Work
- [http://www.physorg.com/tags/quantum+computing/ News About Quantum Computing
Written by Andrei Osypov, with the official Nerd Squad title "The Russian"
