DailyDirt: Quantum Computers Are Both Here And Not Here… (original) (raw)

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

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