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So this is a continuation of the first part of our discussion of quantum physics. In the first part we explored some of the fundamental laws surrounding our current understanding of quantum physics. Without an understanding of the vocabulary in the previous post it should be very difficult to follow what we will be doing today, so I recommend you read that first. So jumping right into it, this part of quantum mechanics will be on quantum computer, how they work, what challenges we face in their production, and how they might change our world.
This is the bottom of a quantum computer. As you can see it is plated in gold, which is used prevent reactions. While low on processing power these devices are still big, measuring several feet across.
Firstly a quantum computer is defined as a computer which makes use of the quantum states of subatomic particles to store information. Essentially, the bit storage of a computer or the memory controls how fast a computer can process what it is doing by storing multiple points of information at a time, quantum computers stores this information using particles in a super position. What this means is that at any point in time a piece of information that can be either in one state or the other can become both. This ability to store and manipulate pieces of semi-data can be useful in many ways that will be discussed later. Additionally, under the laws of entanglement, quantum computers can share links between each other that allow them to effect each other with no physical objects moving between the two machines.
IBM or the International Business Machining corporation is a leader in the international development of quantum computers. This is their latest model, on display at their headquarters.
We already have some quantum computers right now. The first one was developed in 2005 and was a 1 bit, or 1 q-bit computer, and we have been advancing ever since. however, we still have some major issues that face the mass use of quantum computers. For one, the temperature that quantum computers has to be placed at to work properly is ridiculously low, about 0.015 kelvin (-273C or -459.4F). For perspective the earth has an average surface temperature of 228 kelvin, and the cold reaches of outer-space drop down to about 2.73 kelvin which is still 182 times the temperature of these machines. The reason for these temperatures is that quantum computers have to decrease interference as much as possible. Vibrations from outside the machine or heat causing vibrations of the particles can throw off the computers ability to control the q-bits. This extremely low temperature creates a couple of major issues, number one being the energy required to power the machine, it uses about 25 kilowatts of power per hour. That's about the same as using all the charge in Tesla every hour. Also the time required to boot up current quantum computers takes a long time, approximately 36 hours before the machine is cold enough to be usable. Secondly quantum computers are expensive! As said previously they use a lot of electricity so people using the computer have to pay a high electric bill. Additionally the parts for the computer are very small, and only specific machinery can produce them so the cost of manufacture is high. The resources required by the computer are fairly expensive as well as most of the device is coated in gold to prevent heat induction and reduce the amount of reactions the machine has. Finally, current quantum computers have serious issues with errors. About 6% of the equations done by a modern quantum computer will process incorrectly because one of the q-bits vibrated a bit too much. This may not sound like much, but imagine if every time anything happened on your computer there was a 6% chance something would go wrong, and I mean everything. If there was a 6% chance that a pixel on your computer showed the wrong color every time it updated that would suck, and it would be worse if you were doing critical work that required exact answers.
The communicator from Star Trek allows for communication over fast distances with no lag times, could this gaudy 1960's design be what we use for quantum communication in the future?
So we know what a quantum computer is, and we know what our challenges are for making them usable. But if we have quantum computers what can we do with them? Well there are several practical applications of quantum computers. The first is it's relation to cyber security. Being able to constantly switch between multiple variables and security patterns a quantum security system would theoretically be able to prevent hackers from having any chance to break into a system without proper authentication. However the same is true on the flip side. If a hacker were to use a quantum computer specific algorithms that are a bit to complicated for me to understand or explain, would allow them to quickly break into any conventional password protected system. The second major application of these devices is in biology and medicine. Many of the chemicals we try to understand in medicine and our bodies are made up of complex systems and quantum particles. Quantum computers can create complex algorithms for simulating such systems. With this new information we could understand the brain better, or quickly develop new more efficient medicines. Finally one of the the most interesting applications of this technology is in the speed at which we communicate. Because of entanglement two quantum particles cause each other to react instantaneously. However this is near uncontrollable but if we were to master quantum computers we could communicate information across large distances instantly without having to send a signal or wave. This could be revolutionary for encrypted communications or for space travel, where the vast distances make communication delayed and difficult.