of whether a new kind of computing
computing from military applications in
NAMILA BANDARA
device would work on quantum physics
secure encryptions, scientific experiments
(First Year)
principles. Feynman was the first to speak
on DNA modeling to complex material
about quantum computing by producing
science analysis. The quantum realm is
an abstract model in 1982 which showed
already underway, but whether all the
quantum system used in the computa-
challenges could be surpassed and when
tion. In 1982, David Deutsch forwarded
it would be possible is an open question.
References
1. Nicola Davis. (2014). Quantum comput-
the idea of quantum logic gates to har-
ing explained: harnessing particle phys-
ness the power of quan-
ics to work faster. [Online].
tum realm. Decades later,
in 1998 the first 2-qubit
quantum computer was
!
built, which could per-
Qubit Control
form trivial calculations
Computer scientists control the microscopic
Available at : https://www.theguardian.
com/ [Accessed on August 26th, 2016]
2. Greg Satell. (2016). The Very Strange
-- And Fascinating -- Ideas Behind IBM’s
Quantum Computer. [Online].
before losing decoher-
particles that act as qubits in quantum computers by
Available at : http://www.forbes.com/
ence after few nanosec-
using control devices.
[Accessed on August 26th, 2016]
onds.
• Ion traps use optical or magnetic fields (or a combination of both) to trap ions.
There are so many chal-
• Optical traps use light waves to trap and control
lenges to overcome in
particles.
quantum computing. The
• Quantum dots are made of semiconductor material
main problem is quantum
and are used to contain and manipulate electrons.
decoherence. Coherence
• Semiconductor impurities contain electrons by
time is a common metric
for the quality of a qubit,
using “unwanted” atoms found in semiconductor
how long it remains in
material.
its quantum properties.
• Superconducting circuits allow electrons to flow
Fully functional quantum
with almost no resistance at very low temperatures.
3. Chris Woodford. (2016). Quantum
Computing. [Online].
Available at : http://www.explainthatstuff.com/ [Accessed on August 26th,
2016]
4. Martin Freiberger. (2015). How does
quantum computing work? [Online].
Available at : https://plus.maths.org/
[Accessed on August 26th, 2016]
computer needs to have
a long coherence time. To
achieve it, qubit needs to be isolated and
kept in extremely low-temperature levels
(nearly 0K). However, isolated controlling
is also a difficulty. So, achieving control
and coherence is expensive. Moreover,
there are theoretical, algorithms and
related mathematics to overcome when
building a fully functional computer.
Although a fully functional quantum computer is the long term goal, the breakthroughs in last 16 years, have made
quantum computing possible in many
ways. Such as; in the 2000s,
5-qubit NRM by the Technical
University
of
Munich,
D-WAVE
7-qubit
2X™
machines by Los Alamos National
Laboratory
and
in
2011,
D-Waves 16-qubit machine.
SYSTEM
There are many applications in quantum
Source: www.dwavesys.com
Gauge Newsletter
University of Peradeniya
31