Quantum computing is a way that will change the world completely. It could change the current scenario of dealing with pharmaceuticals, encryption and revolutionize the communication and artificial intelligence. Many big firms like IBM, Microsoft, Rigetti and Google are in the race to build reliable quantum computers. While many countries across the globe like, US, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Russia, China are investing billions in this race.
Before beginning the discussion on quantum computing lets understand how the conventional computers work. The conventional computers use bits to represent data. The bits are either 0 or 1 but not both at a time, as in the case of switches either the switch is on or off but can’t both. In current scenario all the data, applications we use, websites, photographs etc. are made up of millions or billions of bits in some combination of zeroes and ones.
But the problem is that all the things in the universe aren’t just yes or no, or 0 or 1. There are things that lead to uncertainty. But even our best supercomputers today are not capable of coping with these uncertainties. And here comes what we call Quantum Computing.
Quantum Computers are based on the principles of quantum physics. Instead of using bits, quantum computers make use of quantum bits or qubits. So, rather than just being on or off, qubits also exist in a third state called superposition – where they’re on and off at the same time, or lies somewhere on a spectrum between the two. This superposition also states that the identical states will not always give the same result.
Quantum computing can make a way to teleportation by using quantum entanglement. Entanglement means that two pairs exist in a single state. Changing the state of one of the qubits will instantaneously change the state of the other in a predictable way even they are separated by huge distance. Doubling the number of bits in conventional computers will doubles the processing power of the machine. But here in quantum computing, just adding an extra qubit to a quantum machine will exponentially increase its processing ability, all this because of entanglement.
Quantum computing isn’t just doing things faster or more efficiently but can also perform the tasks that we couldn’t even have dreamed. They can do tasks that our supercomputers can’t do and they can outperform our best supercomputers. They are potentially capable of accelerating the development of artificial intelligence. In present, supercomputers can only analyze the basic molecules. But quantum computers operate using the same quantum properties as the molecules they are trying to stimulate, so they have no problem even dealing with the most complicated reactions.
Scientists said that with the help of quantum simulations there might be possibilities of developing cure against Alzheimer which was not present till date. Quantum encryption will also play a vital role in protecting our data. Because the quantum computers can easily break down large numbers into prime numbers on which a large number of encryption system depends. In 2019, Google said that they have achieved the quantum supremacy but IBM disputed their claim.
For now, quantum computers are highly sensitive towards heat, air molecules and electromagnetic fields interference. These external interferences can cause a qubit to lose its quantum properties and make them more error-prone than classical computers. This process is called quantum decoherence and it can even lead to a system crash. To protect the quantum computers, they need to be isolated and placed in extremely cold temperatures – close to zero kelvins. U.S. Army scientists along with professors of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing photonic circuits that incorporate nonlinear optical crystals, that will manipulate the entanglement required for quantum devices at room temperature.
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