Quantum computers could become a reality very soon, opening up some fantastic possibilities - including teleportation, says Richard Gray

The power of quantum computers rests in the strange way that matter behaves at the atomic and sub-atomic levels. Particles at this scale, such as electrons and the nuclei of atoms, adhere to laws that are outside the normal realms of physics.

In the quantum world, a particle can be in two places at once. It can even be in two different states at the same time, either as a particle or as a wave of radiation.

It is a mind-boggling concept, but physicists believe that, by harnessing the unique ability of small particles, quantum computers could carry out many calculations simultaneously.

Traditional computers shuffle information in the form of binary numbers, the digits 1 and 0, which are remembered by the "on" and "off" positions of tiny switches, or "bits", on the circuit boards. Quantum computers use atoms and subatomic particles as the switches that perform the memory and processing tasks.

The difference is that in quantum computing, the switches can be "on" and "off" at the same time. This means the basic component, the "qubit", can be involved in multiple calculations, while its strange properties also allow such computers to skip the step-by-step operations that current PCs use.

Quite how much more powerful this could make a quantum computer has still to be seen, but some scientists have estimated that even a very simple 30-qubit computer would be around 1,000 times faster than most desktop PCs.

Quantum computing, however, also has some worrying implications for security. With the ability to carry out difficult calculations on large numbers, quantum computers would be able to crack one of the cornerstones of computer security - cryptography. Conventional computers struggle with the difficult calculations needed to break codes: to test all of the possible answers in a "brute force" attack would take far too much time and processing power. But a quantum computer that tried the different answers simultaneously could easily defeat this security.

This has worried many in the financial and business sectors, where confidentiality and protection against hackers is crucial. Some companies have begun offering new types of security, called quantum cryptography, as an ultra-secure way of sending information.

As the threat posed by internet viruses and hackers to people's personal computers increases, quantum cryptography could become a standard feature of desktop computers to ensure safe internet communication.

Among the breakthroughs that have brought the prospect of a quantum computer closer is the ability to harness a process called "entanglement", in which two particles become connected so that the fate and movements of one depends on the other.

In the Newton Medal Lecture this month, Professor Zeilinger told the Institute of Physics that these entangled particles could provide a valuable tool in communicating between quantum computers.

His team has managed to set a new record for the distance over which they entangled two particles - around 90 miles apart, on two of the Canary Islands. It could mean that quantum computers could use entanglement to send and receive information.

THE QC EFFECT

• Typical personal computers calculate 64 bits of data at a time. A 64- qubit quantum computer would be about 18 billion billion times faster.

• A working quantum computer could be so mind-bogglingly powerful that it would solve in seconds certain problems that would take the fastest supercomputer millions of years to complete.

• Consumers, credit card companies and high-tech firms rely on cryptography to protect sensitive information. The basis for encryption systems is that computers would need thousands of years to factor a large number, making it very difficult to do. But a QC could break the most complicated encryption in hours.

• Quantum computers could also take advantage of another quantum property, teleportation. Teleportation allows information about one particle to be transmitted to another particle some distance away. A quantum computer could use teleportation instead of wires to move bits around inside itself.
go

yes.... but does it play solitaire?


Im going to assume that the price for one of these when they come out is going to be more than my new home?

Good find Owls

And I bet Microsoft will be able to make an operating system that will be such a resource hog that it will bog it down until it runs like every other slow computer in the world...and it will need to be rebooted constantly...and you will never be able to find any drivers that work correctly...

...yes I just upgraded to Vista...

Quite accurate analysis ....

and bad error, I feel with you....

I feel your pain. I just built a PC and put Vista on it just so I can familiarize myself with the 'Vista world'. Drivers are no fun to get working. I can understand not supporting legacy SOFTWARE but not supporting legacy hardware is painful.

Chances are we will never see a quantum computer on the general consumer market and if we ever do see them I would imagine there will be some kind of registration process 10 times worse than buying a handgun just to get one.

As the largest quantum computer to date is a mighty 6 qubits in size, meaning it can hold the values 0 to 63 simultaneously - I'm not going to hold my breath. I seriously doubt that it's possible to build a qubit array of any scale, mostly because I believe that the underlying principles of Quantum mechanics work differently to the way that the vast majority of Physicists currently believe.

Ugh, tell me about it. Just for the h... of it I tried installing it on my desktop at home. Needless to say that it didn't stay very long. And that when I purchase a new PC for work, I purchase one with XP on it. Especially as we use a lot of specialty software for research purposes, I wouldn't even dream of letting a Vista media close to one of our crucial machines



Hmm, here I would have to disagree. Human ingenuity seems to know no borders and I have no doubt that the issues currently facing quantum computers will be solved. Whether they will end up being as versatile as the current PCs, is a good question, but I have no doubt that they could be applied broadly.

Cheers,
Badeskov

First of all whats the bad rep with vista, i got myself a new laptop and its been a couple months and ive had no problems. No freezes. No stalls. No nothing. Its been running great. Big improvment over XP. Then again what is your PC funnybunny. Cuz alot of ppl blame system problems on the OS.

Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz, 4GB Ram, Geforce8600GT 512GDDR3, 1GB Turbo Card. Never looked back! Runs fantastic.

Anyways. Lol.

Quantum Computer? Gaming RIG! AWWW YEAH!.

Lol. I dunno, sounds still a bit farfetched. I doubt they will go forward with it, but it would be interesting and creepy to see.

I had thought I had heard that it can be confirmed that no information can be transmitted this way at "faster then light" speeds, so you can not use teleporting to increase processor speeds.


Wiki

Intel (Who I work for) has already developed all kinds of super-science like processors. Some made from synthetic diamond, some using diode lasers and receptors instead of metal fill. So the speed of things is going to keep doubling well into the next couple decades.

I also read about a computer made of rat neurons that was fantastically fast. Organic computers might also be the way of the future.

It's thought that it's impossible, but the EPR paradox concerns "Spooky interaction at a distance" which would imply that information is being transmitted instantaneously through a mechanism that we're currently unaware of.

I'm unsure, but I woud expect that gravitational changes are transmitted instantaneously.

As for the phenomenon of "Teleporting" - I doubt that it would be useful for increasing processor speed, though it might come in handy to increase the speed of memory access.

Actually, that is correct. Normally it is said that information cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light, however, quantum entanglement seems to defy this. And nobody knows how and why yet. The only issue is that it is extremely hard to utilize



Nobody knows yet but all indications are that gravity works at the speed of light. Hopefully the LIGO can detect some gravity waves and get us closer to an answer to that puzzle.



Not sure how teleporting actually comes into play here. The main obstacle in teleporting is not really processing speed, but rather how to store all the relevant information (besides the small issue of actually being able to disassemble, transmit and reassemble an object).

Cheers,
Badeskov

I can imagine quantum computers use tubes instead of circuit boards

I was wondering the other day about a mechanical computer in a weightless environment. Wouldn't it be possible to transmit data instantaneously using a long enough rod. If say you had a steel wire running a distance equal to that between the Earth and the Moon, and you pushed it, then doesn't the far end move at the same time as the end you are pushing? Isn't that an instantaneus signal?

So a mechanical computer that worked on tiny springs and rods might be possible. I only see this working in a weightless environment with exotic materials. Maybe carbon nanofibers.

hmmm... the data would be put in by......?

Actually, no it wouldn't. It would still move at the speed of light at maximum. The reason being that the molecular lattices that constitute the material that you use for your rod always will have some elasticity built into it. Compare it to a couple opposing magnets: if you use one to push the other away with, it is not like you have a stiff rod between the magnets.

Cheers,
Badeskov

I'm not completely slamming VISTA. It's just a real pain in the foot to find certain drivers. Why should I have to buy new hardware if what I currently have works just fine but I can't find compatible drivers for VISTA. My printer for example - I had to install it as a completely different model than what it really is to get it to work with VISTA.


I can't imagine how much faster video rendering would be with a quantum computer though... PIXAR will be popping movies out left and right.

Man with small tapping hammer....

Cheers,
Badeskov

PS: Sorry, that one was just too tempting

dont do it dont do it, return to xp, save your soul and sanity.

I figured something liker that...see the problem here is to make an iron rod take decisions according to pre-stipulated conditions....little difficult if you ask me.

To be honest I have had no problems with Vista on my computer and I push my PC to the max... It does slow **** down a bit thoough.