Physicists
Max Planck and Albert Einstein gave us quantum
theory, which few of us even pretend to understand.
But someone in the computing field does; new
discoveries about the ways atoms can be arranged and
manipulated are opening new frontiers in computing.
Electronic circuits, which run today's beasties,
operate on the ever-popular binary format (one/zero,
on/off). Quantum bits, or qubits, can be
ones, zeroes, or both at once. The third position,
or superposition, is what makes quantum
computing so fraught with possibilities. The
difference comes in the way operations are
performed: instead of adding figures one at the
time, quantum computing adds them simultaneously.
Quantum computers would be able to be considerably
smaller than even the handheld models of today --
one expert foresees a future quantum computer as
being a thimbleful of ionized formaldehyde
manipulated by an external device. The first real
use for quantum computers will be in encryption, but
their uses will expand at a dizzying rate once they
become feasible for real-world use. Right now the
wonks are predicting solid-state quantum computers
to be available to you and me sometime around 2040,
but early models may be available for military
encryption use in 5-6 years. The wait should prove
interesting. Thirsty for info now? A good place to
start is at www.sciam.com/1998/0698issue/0698gershenfeld.html
and a sort of "home page" for quantum computing
theory and practice can be found at www.qubit.org/.
Physicists
Max Planck and Albert Einstein gave us quantum
theory, which few of us even pretend to understand.
But someone in the computing field does; new
discoveries about the ways atoms can be arranged and
manipulated are opening new frontiers in computing.
Electronic circuits, which run today's beasties,
operate on the ever-popular binary format (one/zero,
on/off). Quantum bits, or qubits, can be
ones, zeroes, or both at once. The third position,
or superposition, is what makes quantum
computing so fraught with possibilities. The
difference comes in the way operations are
performed: instead of adding figures one at the
time, quantum computing adds them simultaneously.
Quantum computers would be able to be considerably
smaller than even the handheld models of today --
one expert foresees a future quantum computer as
being a thimbleful of ionized formaldehyde
manipulated by an external device. The first real
use for quantum computers will be in encryption, but
their uses will expand at a dizzying rate once they
become feasible for real-world use. Right now the
wonks are predicting solid-state quantum computers
to be available to you and me sometime around 2040,
but early models may be available for military
encryption use in 5-6 years. The wait should prove
interesting. Thirsty for info now? A good place to
start is at www.sciam.com/1998/0698issue/0698gershenfeld.html
and a sort of "home page" for quantum computing
theory and practice can be found at www.qubit.org/.